Guidance
by SparkELee
Summary: Rachel and Puck are back at McKinley... Not as students but as educators! How will our two favorite former glee clubbers fare as co-workers? Tune in to find out!
1. Well, Hello

A/N: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

Guidance

Chapter 1: Well, Hello

Rachel had always loved school, even when she was young. And now that she was an educator, she loved it even more.

The first day of school was a week away and she was, as always, absolutely thrilled. This was her first official day back and she had big plans. After she got her office in working condition, she was planning to spend the rest of the week with the other teachers.

As McKinley's resident guidance counselor/glee coach, she felt it was her responsibility to reacquaint herself with teachers from the year before and introduce herself to the new ones.

She went about her routine of setting up her office, her iHome played her a tune from one of her favorite Broadway musicals.

Rachel smiled softly as she thought back over the last few years and how so much had changed.

Juilliard, as it turns out, did not need her as much as she'd convinced herself they did. They'd accepted her but they hadn't offered her a penny of scholarship money. Without it, her fathers weren't able to afford the lavish music school. They'd offered to take out loans, mortgage the house, whatever it took to make their baby's dreams come true.

Rachel had turned them down. She was many things, but selfish was not one of them. She wouldn't let her fathers destroy themselves financially or otherwise.

Never one to wallow, Rachel had taken the crushing news in stride and instead attended Ohio State and earned degrees in education, music, and shockingly, counseling.

McKinley and Principal Figgins were all too happy to hire one of their own, and her timing couldn't have been better. Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury were married and moving out of state. Rachel was all too happy to take Ms. Pillsbury's job and part of Mr. Schue's.

This was her third year back and she'd be lying if she said she didn't love it. Guiding students through the rough waters of high school, coaching amateur voices to their maximum potential, Rachel was completely in her element here.

"Ms. Berry! Welcome back!" Principal Figgins called from her doorway, startling her out of her reverie.

She turned and offered him a warm smile. "You know how much I love being here. I'm always so eager to jump back into the new school year." She gushed as she arranged her various trophies in the hutch behind her desk.

"I know you are Ms. Berry. Imagine my shock when I discovered you weren't the first one back this year." He replied pleasantly.

She rounded, her curiosity peaked by his words.

"Who on earth came back earlier than me?" She questioned, hands on her hips.

He grinned. He knew this look. She'd been pulling it since freshman year.

"The new Athletic Director."

She wrinkled her brow. She vaguely recalled a mass email to the faculty about Tanaka retiring and they were hunting for a replacement but a formal announcement hadn't been made.

"Who's the new hire?" She asked at last.

He grinned delightfully at her question. There was a gleam in his eye she couldn't place and it unnerved her a bit.

"He's in his office now, why don't you go on down and introduce yourself? I know you like to chat with the rest of the faculty before the school year begins."

He had her there.

Figgins stood and let himself out, leaving her to ponder her next move.

Obviously something was up. The shifty behavior her boss was exhibiting made it perfectly clear that there was something about this new athletic director… Something that seemed to pertain directly to her.

Rachel stepped to her tall armoire in the corner, opened it up and double checked her reflection in the mirror on the inside door.

27 looked good on her. Her hair was shorter now, she kept it shoulder length, with long bangs she swept to the side. Her crazy animal sweater and plaid skirt days were long gone. She favored dark dress pants and pencil skirts. She'd kept herself in shape and had filled out since her final days at McKinley.

She was rather proud of her outfit today. Since there were no students, she'd gone more casual. A teal v-neck showed a bit of cleavage but not too much to be unacceptable, along with a dark denim pencil skirt and a pair of bronze and teal wedges. Despite having grown out of the school girl look, she still loved her skirts and her penchant for color coordination was clearly alive and well.

She brushed her hair behind her ear and headed to the door, locking her office on the way out.

Her wooden heeled wedges clanked loudly along the off white tile floor as she made her way to the athletic department.

As she turned down the hall towards the gym her nose crinkled slightly at the sudden stench of sweat currently invading her nostrils. She was all for athletics and encouraging a healthy lifestyle but the smell of young men after a hot day of football practice? Suffice it to say, it was atrocious.

The door to the Athletic Director's office was slightly ajar. Not enough to see in or hear much, but enough to signify his presence.

She took in a deep breath, raised her hand and rapped twice on his door.

All she got was a vague grunt, which she took as permission to enter.

Rachel squared her shoulders and pushed the door open.

The man in question was facing away from the desk, studying tapes of the McKinley football practices made as of late.

"Good afternoon. I just wanted to stop in and personally and properly introduce myself. I run the guidance department and the glee club. I'm-"

He cut her off.

He spun in his chair and both sets of eyes widened in recognition.

"Rachel Berry."

"Noah?"

Chapter 1! Done! What do you think?


	2. Some Things Never Change

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: WOW guys! You really liked the first chapter! What an overwhelmingly awesome response you gave me! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I think you guys are the reason I had over 33,000 hits last month. That's the most I've ever had, so thank you!

Guidance

Chapter 2: Some Things Never Change…

"Please tell me this isn't happening. Tell me Figgins developed a sense of humor and this is his idea of a funny joke." Puck spit out as he took in the sight of his ex-classmate/ex-girlfriend.

"If anyone's the joke here, it's certainly not me. I've been employed by McKinley for 3 years now." She informed him as she drew herself to her full height. (Which was around 5'5" with the wedges)

He quirked his eyebrow at her. "Aren't you supposed to be prancing around on some Broadway stage right about now?"

An emotion flashed across her face so quickly he wasn't sure if it was real or just his imagination.

"I don't really see how that's any of your business Noah." She shot back as she crossed her arms in front of her.

He stood and strolled around to the front of his desk, resting his muscular form against his filing cabinet.

"So that's how it's going to be?" He challenged, his forest green eyes holding her gaze.

"I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to, Noah, but I pride myself on maintaining, at minimum, a professional relationship with all my fellow co-workers, and I suppose that includes you now." She replied tightly.

He raked his gaze down her small, compact body. She was still nice to look at… Very nice…. Maybe even a little better than he remembered. But that personality was just as abrasive as ever, which sometimes got in the way of her hotness.

"Oh, come off it Berry. I'm over the verbal vomit you like spewing in my direction. When you decide to yank the ruler out of your ass, come talk to me."

She narrowed her chocolate eyes at him. "Let's get one thing straight Puckerman. I run the guidance office and glee. You run the athletic department. I see no reason why our paths should cross, I suggest we keep it that way." She seethed, clearly angry at this point.

He chuckled at her obvious frustration. "We'll see about that sweetheart." He agreed cheekily.

Rachel huffed her protest before she spun on her heel and stormed out, obviously pissed.

She was in Figgins' office in record time.

"How could you hire that man and not tell me! You know we had a turbulent relationship in high school! You were here to witness it! He threw slushies at me! He tormented me! He nearly got us banned from competition on more than one occasion! Does that mean nothing to you!" She rapid fired her questions at the man behind the desk.

"Rachel, have a seat." Figgins suggested once her rant was complete.

She sighed as she dropped unceremoniously into the chair across from his desk.

"I am well aware of your tumultuous past with Mr. Puckerman. I'm also aware that it was nearly 10 years ago since you've dealt with one another. I had hoped you would handle this more maturely then you seem to be. You're both adults. You need to figure out a way to co-exist, especially since several of your male glee members play sports. I don't want to deal with this all school year. You two need to work it out." He informed her, his voice stern and he left no room for argument.

That didn't stop her from trying though. She opened her mouth to spit her argument right back. Instead, he met her gaze and slowly shook his head at what was bound to be a half hour diatribe regarding the repercussions of hiring Noah Puckerman. Frankly, he didn't want to hear it.

Rachel groaned inwardly. She'd forgotten about the members of glee that also partook in sports, specifically football.

This little detail did not bode well with her. No, it didn't bode well at all. Because it meant that she'd have to do more than just co-exist with the Neanderthal, she'd actually have to work with him.

Date: August 20, 2023 11:34 AM

To: Rachel Berry

From: Noah Puckerman

RE: Football Practice Schedule

Berry-

FYI.

Figured you should know I'm going to be changing practice dates for my guys. We'll be practicing Mon-Thurs 3 – 6.

NP

Date: August 20, 2023 12:02 PM

To: Noah Puckerman

From: Rachel Berry

RE: Football Practice Schedule

Noah-

That is completely unreasonable and you know it. I have four boys in my club that play football.

I know what you're doing. You're trying to steal my athletes back.

Might I remind you that as of late, the glee club has been far more successful than our sorry excuse for a football team.

Thus, I'm demanding you return football practices to the previously scheduled days, which were, (in case you weren't informed) Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will continue to run glee practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

That is all.

Rachel B. Berry

Guidance/Glee

William McKinley High School

Date: August 20, 2023 12:19 PM

To: Rachel Berry

From: Noah Puckerman

RE: Football Practice Schedule

Berry-

Blow me.

NP

Rachel's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in disgust.

She quickly moused to the Forward button, clicked it and forwarded the conversation to Figgins.

As soon as it was set, she jumped up and scurried off to the man's office to discuss the horribly offensive suggestion from Noah.

Her mind was too busy coming up with reasons for asking for Noah's resignation that she didn't see the person coming around the corner.

She slammed into him at full speed and succeeded only in falling flat on her ass with a slightly shocked "Ommmffh!"

She shook her head and pushed her hair out of her eyes. That's when the hand came into view.

Rachel glared at the owner of it.

"C'mon Berry, let me at least help you up. After all, if my body wasn't so ridiculously hard, you probably wouldn't have fallen." He smirked as he wiggled his fingers at her.

She offered a "Pffh" noise from the back of her throat, braced her hand on the wall and stood up, only to yelp painfully when she put pressure on her right ankle. It twinged under the weight before it fully gave out, leaving her grappling for the nearest object to hold onto, which sadly, was Noah or the wall.

Her hand closed around his forearm and he grabbed her shoulder to steady her.

The telltale smirk was gone in a flash when he realized she was hurt.

He glanced down and saw her outer ankle was beginning to swell and turn an angry shade of red.

Puck gave a heavy sigh. "Not a good choice of shoes Berry. I mean, they're hot and they look sexy as hell, but they're probably not the safest." He remarked as he gestured to the 4" cork heel of her wedges.

"Obviously." She bit back tartly, doing her best to maintain her composure despite the pain shooting out of her ankle. She was doing her very best to ignore the way his arm felt under her grasp. The 'sexy as hell' comment was definitely not helping matters.

"Can you put any weight on it?" He asked, doing his best to sound gentle, er, well, _gentler._

She tentatively set her foot back on the ground and allowed herself to put the tiniest amount of pressure on it, only to jerk it back off the floor, hissing at the pain.

"Ok, so that's a no. I guess we're going to the hospital Berry." He told her while still maintaining his hold.

"I can drive myself." She informed him sternly.

He rolled his eyes. She was so pig headed sometimes.

"Really Berry? Cause I'm pretty sure you need your right foot to drive." He pointed out.

She glowered at him before grunting her reluctant agreement.

"I'll carry you to my car and-" He started he started to shift her in his arms so he could scoop her up.

Instead he was stopped with a slap on the arm and an indignant "NO!" from her mouth.

"There's a wheelchair in the nurse's office. I'll use that. You are most certainly NOT carrying me through the halls like some sort of damsel in distress!" She instructed, bracing herself on the wall.

He briefly considered arguing this one but she was in pain and he figured he could let this one go and do what she wanted, just this once.

"Alright, fine, we'll do this your way. Wait here." He conceded.

She nodded and 15 minutes later, they were hospital bound.

A/N 4: SO THAT'S ALL FOR THIS CHAPTER. NEXT ONE WE'LL JUMP INTO THE SCHOOL YEAR!

I'd love to hear what you guys think!


	3. A Rough Compromise

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 3: A Rough Compromise

Rachel strode through the halls, navigating expertly through the throng of students clustering in their respective cliques.

She took a deep breath and sighed happily. The first day of school had finally arrived.

After depositing her nutritionally balanced lunch into the refrigerator in the teacher's lounge she made her way back to her office, smiling and greeting familiar faces along the way.

Finally she'd managed to make it to her office, only to see the back of a very familiar blonde head.

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to make your way in here." Rachel said as she made her way around to her side of the desk.

Quinn grinned broadly. "I had time. No one gets sick the first day." The petite blonde had been the school nurse for the last two years. She and Rachel had managed to forge a tentative friendship since the blonde's return to McKinley.

"So have you seen who the new Athletic Director is!" Quinn asked, attempting to keep her tone casual and light.

Rachel rolled her eyes. Quinn was far more transparent she realized.

"Don't play this game with me Quinn. I know he's back. He had to drive me to the hospital last week. We had a collision of sorts." Rachel revealed as she fired up her email.

"I think I might've heard something about that." Quinn replied vaguely as she watched her friend's face screw up in anger.

"That dirty little rat! I told him to change this! He can't schedule his practices when glee rehearses! And he certainly can't schedule the athletic department scrimmages on the same day as glee tryouts!" She barked at her computer. She dragged her mouse over the Print button and jabbed at it angrily.

Quinn sat back in her chair, a little shocked at her friend's outburst. "Maybe you should talk to him." She suggested tentatively, slightly afraid of what Rachel might do next.

"I'm already a step ahead of you! I'll see you at lunch!" Rachel called as she stormed from her office, snatching the paper from her printer, leaving the blonde in her wake.

It didn't take her long to discover he wasn't in his office. Nor was he in the lounge. She scoured the halls, finally finding him in the gym with two other members of the athletic department.

"PUCKERMAN!" She yelled, her voice carrying through the empty gym.

Puck winced at the sound of her barking his name in such a harsh tone.

"Oh, looks like you pissed off the princess Puckerman." One of the men commented with a snigger.

"Please! I'd give anything to have that tight little piece of ass screaming my name." Another replied, his tone low and slightly skeevy.

Something snapped in Puck. He rounded on the smaller man. "Listen. I don't know who the fuck you think you are but I do know I have the power to fire you. I'd suggest you keep your trap shut about Berry. It's disrespectful." He hissed, his voice low enough that only the man in trouble could hear him.

He turned back around just as Rachel reached them.

"We need to talk. This email-" She started, her eyes flashing in anger.

"Let's go to my office Berry, I'm not going to do this here." He informed her as he took her elbow.

She wrenched her arm from his grip. "I am quite capable of getting to your office without you assistance, thank you very much." She snipped, her voice a bit lower though.

A few moments later she was throwing open the door to his office, plopping into his visitor's chair and glowering expectantly at him.

"I gotta say Berry. I'm shocked you didn't run to Figgins on this one." He remarked as he leaned back in his chair, his gaze level and his tone neutral.

She regarded him for a moment before responding to his previous statement.

"I can't run to Figgins with every little problem I have with you. Mostly because he's forbidden me to. We need to deal with our differences ourselves." She admitted, her hands folded primly in her lap.

He sat back and thought a moment. An idea popped into his mind.

She didn't like the way he was grinning at her. She quirked an eyebrow as he sat forward, steepling his fingers on his desk.

"You want the football schedule back the way it was, right?" He opened, hoping to appeal to her inner control freak.

"Absolutely. I feel that-" She started before he abruptly cut her off.

"I know. Right. Anyways. I have a proposition for you." He told her.

Rachel met his gaze and silently waited for him to continue. "I will move practice back to the original days, and change the date of the scrimmages, if you agree to my terms." He went on, trying to gauge her response based on her facial expression.

"I don't think I should have to follow any of your 'terms'. You're not my boss. And furthermore, the accolades glee has received are a clear indication that-" Again she attempted to speak, and again, he interrupted her.

"Think what you want Berry, but I was brought on for one very specific reason: To whip the athletic department back into shape. By any means necessary. And I'm quoting Figgins on that one. You know how important athletics are."

He knew he had her. Nobody knew the hierarchy better than Rachel.

As much as she'd hate to admit it, athletics were key to any high school's reputation. Athletics would always come before the arts, and glee was grouped within the 'arts' category. Essentially, their trophies, their accolades, they didn't really mean anything when it came to the extracurricular activity food chain. They were still dead last.

Which meant, painful as it was, she was going to have to at least listen to his proposal.

She heaved a sigh and her eyes rose to meet his gaze. "What are you suggesting?" She asked, almost wincing, primarily because she was nearly 100% certain she wasn't going to like his response.

"I will return the schedules to the way they were before if you take on coaching responsibilities for the Cheerios. I've been searching high and low for someone to take them and if you don't, they'll be disbanded and that won't go over very well. You take this mess off my hands and schedules will never change as long as I'm here."

Her eyes widened at her jaw dropped.

"Have you completely lost your mind? I'm not coaching the Cheerios! I've never even been a cheerleader! They hated me in high school and I'm quite certain most of them still despise me now!" She protested hotly, her voice rising to scarily high pitches as she shrieked her displeasure.

His response was a shrug. "Look, I'm not blind and I'm not an idiot. Obviously you're in fantastic shape, that smokin' little body of yours has only gotten better. You can dance, you've got rhythm, and as you like to remind people, you're an amazing coach. I don't see the issue here. They don't practice on glee days, the routines are mapped out in the binder Sue left here last year and all you have to do is hold try-outs for a few new girls, what's the issue?" He shot back as he took a long pull on his black coffee.

"The 'issue' is that I don't want to do it." She informed him snottily as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh please Berry, come off it. You're going to have to take my offer eventually if you want to keep your athletes." He chided her as she rose to her feet, her face red and her eyes stormy.

"Burn in hell Puckerman." She spit as she slammed the door behind you.

He chuckled. "The Berry Storm Out is still as dramatic as ever." He muttered to himself as he opened his email and began skimming his newest messages.

Rachel squared her shoulders and took a deep, calming breath before rapping 3 times on Figgins' door.

Once his approval came, she pushed open the door and stepped into his line of sight.

His shoulders visibly sagged and his face fell a little when he realized who was standing in front of him.

Silently, he gestured to his visitor's chair and waited for the tirade to begin.

"He's trying to blackmail me." She started, her words cold and blunt.

Figgins merely raised an eyebrow and waited. She was far from done.

"Your new Athletic Director just informed me that the only way he'll maintain the previous practice schedule is if I take on the Cheerios as their new coach." She continued, visibly angry about the situation.

Figgins paused at this revelation. He pondered her words. "Well, Ms. Berry, I'm not quite seeing the problem here. You've got a background in dancing, you're already a coach, most of the necessary materials exist already…" He trailed off, meeting her intensely furious stare.

"You sound just like him! I don't want to do this! I've already got my hands full! But it's he's informed me this is the only way and I want you to march in there and tell him this behavior is reprehensible and will not be tolerated!"

He sighed heavily and studied the woman in front of him. He'd known hiring Noah Puckerman was like signing a deal with the devil. Mass chaos had been inevitable.

"Rachel. He's the Athletic Director and he can schedule his practices for whenever he sees fit. You know as well as I do that our school needs some drastic improvements in the athletic field, and he's our ticket. I've told him to do whatever it takes. And if this is the compromise he's offering, I'd consider taking it. He certainly didn't have to extend one to you." Figgins reminded her.

She regarded him coolly, her eyes swirling dangerously.

"You know if I take this… This… Proposal of his, he'd become my boss." She felt it necessary to remind him.

"Only with regards to the Cheerios. And I highly doubt he'll be too concerned with them once you take over. His primary issue was finding a replacement. If you agree, I'm sure you'll be just fine."

He was patronizing her, she knew it.

But she also knew he word was final. He was not going to back her on this one.

She stood, gave her boss one last frustrated look before hightailing it to her office.

There was no getting around it. She was going to have to accept his proposal.

Rachel had been slumped in her office chair for the last three hours and had accomplished nothing more than a couple of schedule changes and reminding Jeremiah Ben-Israel that the use of AV equipment for anything other than school projects was strictly forbidden.

Now she was staring at a fully composed email, her mouse hovering over the "send" button.

The moment she sent it, she was conceding, handing herself over to him.

A movement to her right caught her eye. She glanced up and into the eyes of her female lead/star athlete Abby.

"Ms. Berry? You look pissed. What's wrong?" The dark haired girl asked as she plopped down in front of her favorite teacher.

"Language Abby. I'm fine, I'm just struggling with a situation at the moment."

Abby's light green eyes bore into Rachel's dark ones. "What'd he do?" She questioned finally, the 'he' was a clear indication she knew just exactly who was causing her coach such stress.

"It's nothing for you to worry about. I'm handling it. I'll be shouldering some more responsibilities, but it'll be fine." Rachel reassured her star.

Abby's eyebrow raised in a way that reminded her so much of Noah that she almost did a double take.

"Such as?" The younger girl prodded.

Rachel offered her a small half smile. "Say hello to the new Cheerios coach." She supplied weakly.

At this, Abby's eyebrows jumped to her hairline.

"Are you kidding! Why on earth are you coaching them? What about us? Why is he making you do this!" She exclaimed, her voice rising with each question.

"Abby, calm down, it's going to be fine. I promise. They don't practice the same days we do, and it's what had to be done in order to maintain practice times." She comforted, providing as little information as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was cause issues between siblings.

"What about our weekend practices? Invitationals? Sectionals? Regionals? Nationals! What if there are Cheerio competitions scheduled then!" Abby cried, her teeth mashing her bottom lip nervously.

Rachel paused. She hadn't thought of that.

She turned her attention back to the worried teenager. "Don't worry Abby. It's taken care of. I'll see you at auditions." She lead the younger girl to the door and returned to her desk.

After a quick skim of her show choir schedule and the cheerleading competition print out, there were in fact a few dates that did overlap, though thankfully Regionals and Nationals weren't among them. Regardless, she'd need coverage.

She cleared her previous email and composed her thoughts into a new one.

**Date: August 28, 2023 1:20 PM**

**To: Noah Puckerman**

**From: Rachel Berry**

**RE: Our earlier conversation**

**Noah-**

**I've given considerable thought to our little chat this morning and whilst I don't agree with your blackmailing methods, I supposed I'm left with no choice. I will take on the responsibilities of coaching the girls.**

**However, it has come to my attention that there are several glee events/competitions that fall on the same day as various cheerleading engagements. Since I assume you'll demand my presence at the cheerio related events, I will be needing a stand-in.**

**And since I'm taking SUCH a load off your shoulders, I think it's only fair that you stand in for me. Not to worry, the required dates are few and far between and I trust you can handle it, especially considering your sister is the female lead and captain. I'm sure she'll be so overwhelmed with excitement at your presence.**

**I look forward to your response.**

**Rachel B. Berry**

**Guidance/Glee**

**William McKinley High School**

Noah heard the ding on his computer indicating a new email. He turned around to view it but instead was greeted by his own eyes.

"Abby."

"Noah."

He stared at his 17 year old mini me and sighed.

"She told you."

"Well duh. I'm the star. Actually, technically, I'm a star for both of you. But for the record, I already knew. I saw the practice schedules for soccer go up this morning. But then, after lunch, they came down, so I came to see you. You weren't here but the schedules were sitting on your desk, and they were different from before. And you had a couple of emails from Figgins printed up with Ms. Berry's name on them." She shot back as she hopped up on her brother's desk.

"Snooping Abby? Really?"

"You scheduled soccer try-outs and practice over my glee practice. Of course I was going to investigate. I remember you and Ms. Berry dating. I also remember you kind of hating her. Why would you fuck with her like that? Is it because you want to boss her around? Cause that's like, totally not cool." Abby questioned, her tone confident and unwavering.

"Language Abby. And I'm not fucking with her. I'm doing my job."

"You don't have to do it this way. And since you pulled all the schedules down, you know that. Read her email." Abby finished, nodding her head towards the computer to her right.

He rolled his eyes before opening his newest message. Sure enough, it was from the woman in question.

Noah skimmed her message before his eyes bulged slightly.

"She wants me to chaperone the glee events that fall on the same days as Cheerio events." He muttered, his head falling to the desk.

Abby snorted and laughed. "That's probably the least you can do."

"How do you figure?" He shot back, his voice muffled by the oak desk.

"Well, you did target her. You didn't have to schedule everything athletic at the same time as glee, but you did. You're poking at her, and by extension, me. Stop it and do it. It's what any GOOD boss would do." She barked sarcastically.

He hated that Abby was his constant reminder that he did in fact have a conscious. It was so much quieter when she wasn't around.

Maybe he had targeted her. Or at the very least, taken a little bit of pleasure in knowing he was making her cushy little life just a bit harder.

Abby interrupted his thoughts. "You should write her back and apologize. And tell her you'll chaperone the glee stuff." Abby told him, as if he didn't already know that.

"I'll write her back and tell her I'll take the glee stuff but I'm not apologizing."

Abby rolled her eyes at his childish behavior and watched as he typed out his response.

**Date: August 28, 2023 1:32 PM**

**To: Rachel Berry**

**From: Noah Puckerman**

**Berry-**

**Point taken.**

**Forward me the dates for the glee things and I'll see what I can do.**

**NP**

"Oh yeah, super kind and sincere. Way to show some depth." Abby spouted off, in response to his callous email.

"Bell's going to ring in 3 minutes. Don't you have a class?" He shot back defiantly.

She sighed heavily and slipped off his desk. After shouldering her bag and grabbing her duffle she turned back to him just before she exited his office.

"Noah? You should give her like, half a chance, she's not the same girl she was in high school. She's different now. You might even like her."

SO THAT'S IT FOR CHAPTER 3.

I want to thank you all again for your fantastic reviews. You always brighten my days. Please, keep them coming!


	4. Almost a Truce

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 4: Almost a Truce

"Noah, what's this I hear about you targeting Rachel Berry?"

Puck tore his gaze from his mother and shot a fierce glare at his younger sister.

She shrugged from across the living room.

"I told you to apologize." She reminded him as she made her way to her bedroom.

"Answer me Noah." The eldest Puckerman demanded.

He rolled his eyes. "Mom, I'm not going into this with you. I'm not targeting her. We just had to iron out a few kinks. That's all. Drop it." He emphasized the last two words of his statement.

She shot him one last lingering look before heading off to the kitchen to check on dinner. He knew that look. This wasn't over.

Puck flopped down on the couch and sighed. It was times like this that reminded him exactly why he had his own place. He'd have killed himself if he still lived here.

The very last thing he needed was someone else to bust his balls about Rachel Berry. He'd had just about all he could take today….

_Flashback to 3 hours earlier_

_Puck glanced at his computer clock. 3:18. Cheerio practice should have started by now. _

"_Guess now's as good a time as any to check in." He muttered as he pushed back from his desk and made his way to the back field the Cheerios practiced on._

_Sliding his Wayfarers on, he stepped into the bright Ohio afternoon sun and grimaced as the heat washed over him. Never had he been more grateful for the khaki cargo shorts and hunter green polo he was currently sporting._

_He rounded the corner and his mouth nearly went dry as he realized it was no longer his shorts he was thankful for, but Rachel Berry's._

_Her petite form was clad in red shorts, a white tank and white Nike Shox. Her hair was pulled off her face and her eyes were shaded by dark aviators._

_Up until now he'd never stopped to consider how hot 'Athletic Rachel' could be._

_The predatory smirk that took over his face was an obvious indication he liked what he saw._

"_He's so hot. I can't believe he teaches here." Rachel overhead one of the girls say as she strode among them, monitoring their warm-ups._

"_God I know. The things I'd do to him…"_

_Rachel rolled her eyes and glanced up. No wonder they were talking about them. He was headed their way._

"_Alright ladies. On your feet." She called out. The girls all stood and assembled themselves into four rows._

"_Hey Mr. P. What brings you out to practice today?" A chesty blonde senior asked as she sauntered out of line towards the broad shouldered man._

_He quirked an eyebrow at the blonde and opened his mouth to speak but Rachel cut him off._

"_Ashley! Back in line now." Berry barked at the blonde, her tone leaving no room for argument._

_Ashley looked like she was considering ignoring the order and Rachel saw it._

_She stormed over to the blonde. "You should give serious thought to doing what you're told. I do have the ability to remove you from the Cheerios. Don't give me reason to execute that right." She hissed at the young woman._

_The teenager stumbled back into line, her face registering nothing but pure shock._

"_Maybe you ladies aren't understanding me. I may not be Sue Sylvester but that does not mean I'm a pushover. I'd suggest you not test me ladies. I will not hesitate to remove you from this squad. Trust me when I say I don't care what you think of me. You know what girls? Just to be sure we're all on the same page, why don't we do some laps? Ten sounds good." She announced, her voice harsh and firm._

_He'd never admit it but this Rachel was pretty fuckin' hot when she was pissed._

_The girls groaned at her orders but carried them out._

"_Wow Berry the badass. Who knew?" He commented as he came to stand next to her._

_She rolled her eyes. "Language. What are you doing here?" She questioned bluntly._

_His eyebrows rose slightly, though he wasn't too shocked by her directness. It was the Rachel Berry way, after all._

"_Just checking in, being a good boss." He shot back, keeping his gaze trained on the bright blue sky in front of him._

_She spared him a glance. "Since when do you care about the cheerleading coach?" She asked as she crossed her arms in front of herself._

"_Since she starting wearing shorts so short they should be illegal." He replied nonchalantly._

_She was never more grateful for sunglasses then she was at that exact moment._

"_It's hot Noah." She finally managed to squeak out._

"_So are you."_

_And before she could respond, he turned on his heel and marched off the field._

_End Flashback_

"Noah! I need you to set the table." His mother told him, breaking him from his replay of the day's events.

He stood and strode to the kitchen and began pulling out the necessary plates and flatware for the three of them.

"Grab an extra setting. We have a guest tonight."

He froze. There are only so many people his mother would invite to dinner and he had a sneaking suspicion as to who the guest of honor was going to be.

"Who?" He demanded.

His mother shrugged indifferently. "Does it matter Noah? A guest is a guest. We're going to accommodate them regardless."

"MOM. Who is it?" He spit out through gritted teeth.

She opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by her younger child.

"Rachel's here!" Abby called as she made her way downstairs.

His mother offered him a sheepish smile. "Seems like you go your answer."

He groaned audibly and pinched the bridge of his nose at the sound of his sister confirming his suspicion.

"Lovely to see you too Noah." Rachel greeted as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Berry, what a surprise. Thanks for putting some pants on." He shot back sarcastically as his gazed fell to the pair of shorts she was sporting now, which were barely longer than the ones she'd worn to practice. He mentally shook it off before he headed out of the kitchen to finish setting the table.

Thankfully, that meant he missed her blushing crimson at his comment.

Much to his surprise, dinner was not unbearable. Turns out? Rachel had changed a bit since high school.

Don't get him wrong. She was most definitely still Rachel Berry. But the years had mellowed her a bit. Come to find out, conversation outside of school was actually, dare he admit it, pleasant.

Rachel rose to help Viv with the dishes. "Don't you dare. Go on out to the porch, take your wine. We'll join you in a moment." Vivian insisted, shooing Rachel and her glass of wine out the door.

Puck began clearing plates and returning condiments and various items to their proper places. Abbie and Viv shared a look. "Why don't you head out and keep Rachel company." Viv suggested, though her tone made it clear that this was more of an order and less of a suggestion.

He sighed, grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed out to the back porch.

Berry was perched on the lounger, her gaze focused on the fading horizon. He took a moment to appreciate the view before making himself known. Her tan legs stretched on forever, the white shorts only setting off the tan. Her fitted teal v-neck top gave him a glimpse of the cleavage she didn't have in high school.

"It's not nice to stare Puckerman." She told him, breaking him from his reverie.

"Well, you probably shouldn't wear those shorts then." He shot back with a small grin. 

He took a seat on the porch swing next to the lounger, his gaze sweeping out to rest on the bright oranges and reds the setting sun was casting into the sky.

"Why are you here Noah?" She asked after a few peacefully quiet moments.

He took a long swallow of his beer as he considered her question. It was a fair one, he supposed.

"It didn't take me too long to realize I was never gonna make it past college ball. So my advisor mentioned high school athletics, said if I liked sports so much, maybe I could help other people with it." He explained.

She nodded her head. It made sense. But it didn't explain why he was HERE. "Noble decision. But what made you want to come back here?"

That was the question he'd been dreading. The question he wanted to run and hide from.

He almost brushed her off, told her it wasn't her business and he didn't want to talk about it, but her expression was so honest and open, he realized of all the people to talk to about this, she'd probably be the best choice.

"I left because the woman I loved cheated on me." He replied, staring down at his hand.

Rachel winced at his words. She wasn't really sure what answer she was expecting, but that wasn't it.

"I…That's...Umm…I'm sorry…What…I shouldn't…"

He cut off her fumbling with a wry smile.

"Berry, it was awhile ago, I'm OK. No need for apologies." He reassured her, dropping a comforting hand to her shoulder.

She smiled, her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment.

"What about you? Why'd you come back? Why aren't you up on Broadway killing it?"

Rachel opened her mouth to respond but Abbie cut her off.

"Guys, we have problem. I was just looking over my soccer schedule and that big soccer tournament for the tri-state area is the same day as Sectionals." She announced from the door.

Puck beat Rachel to the response.

"Well obviously they'll just have to do without you."

Rachel's gaze slid to Noah. "That's very gracious of you to excuse her from the tournament in order to compete. It shows-"

He cut her off with a hard look. "I meant glee will have to do without her. Abbie will be at the tournament."

It was Rachel's turn to scowl. "Why? Because soccer is sooo much more important? It's not! She's talented, she could get scholarships! But you don't care because you think anything that isn't related to sports is a waste of time!" She snarked, her eyes darkening dangerously.

Abbie's eyes widened as the two adults were now standing nose to nose… Er, nose to chest.

"A singing scholarship? PLEASE. She's practically got the soccer scholarship in the bag. Playing in that tournament will seal the deal. She's skipping Sectionals." He rounded on his sister, her gaze focused on two of her favorite people.

"Is that clear? You will be not be in Columbus for Sectionals. You will be in Akron, playing in the tournament." He informed her sternly.

Abbie snarled at him. "You might have the ability to tell me what to do at school but not here, not now! I can think for myself!" She shrieked before darting into the house and up to her room.

He turned to face Rachel, hoping for some sort of back up, but the expression on her face made it clear. There would be no sympathy from her.

"I'm leaving. Let me know when you're done putting me through the ringer."

The door to Abbie's room slammed seconds before Rachel slammed the front door.

Viv stepped from the kitchen, a bewildered expression on her face.

She arched an eyebrow at her son. He shrugged his shoulders and pulled on his best innocent expression.

She rolled her eyes and stepped back into the kitchen. He headed to the door, desperately needing to blow off some steam.

"Whatever you did, you'd better apologize!" His mother called out moments before he slammed the door a second time.

Fucking women.

A/N: So there's chapter 4. Like? If so, tell me!


	5. Stolen!

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 5: Stolen!

Rachel was late.

She absolutely abhorred being tardy. Her punctuality was something she prided herself on.

Nonetheless, the warning bell rang just as she stepped into the school.

She rushed past the lingering students, reminding them to get to class as she flew by. Being late any day was bad, but being late when you had an appointment in 5 minutes was worse.

Her office was just up ahead. Unlocking it, she flipped the light on and shrieked.

All her trophies were missing.

All the awards she'd earned both as a young girl and as an adult, were gone.

Her chocolate brown eyes narrowed dangerously. Only one other person besides herself had a key to the offices. The janitor.

She was two seconds from tracking him down when there was a knock on her door.

Her appointment had arrived.

Rachel plastered a fake smile on her face and swung open her door, greeting the concerned parent of one of the students.

As far as being a guidance counselor went, she took her job very seriously. Thus, she devoted all of her attention to the man in front of her.

"I completely understand your concerns Mr. Collier. I will speak with Ben's teachers and come up with a game plan to address Ben's less than stellar attitude." She told him as she saw him to the door. The man shook her hand gratefully and made his way out.

Now, to hunt down the janitor.

"Milos!" She bellowed as she stormed into the janitor's small office on the lower level, near the woodshop classroom.

"Good morning Ms. Rachel Berry. How are you today this morning?" The Italian man asked in slightly broken English.

"Milos, did you take my trophies?" She questioned, her hands on her hips as she stared at the small man.

"The gold people? I take them? No, I take nothing but trash. I don't take the gold people."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at the small man. "Well Milos, you're the only one with a key to my office, besides myself. Did you let anyone borrow the keys?"

"No. Keys are just for me to use. Nobody else!" He told her, raising his voice.

"Milos, calm down! I'm not asking to borrow them! I'm asking if you let anyone ELSE borrow them." She clarified, trying to calm the man down.

He shook his head furiously. "I'm a good man! I didn't take the gold people and I didn't give keys away!" He yelled.

She gulped. This was not going very well at all. Clearly she was going to have to try a different tactic.

"Milos, where do you put the keys when you leave?" She asked softly.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why you want to know? Maybe you take your own gold people! Maybe you try to set Milos up! Maybe you try to send Milos home! I have green card!" The man shrieked at her.

"Whoa! What the hell is going on down here?" A voice thundered from the door.

Rachel whirled around and finds herself face to face, er, nose to chest, with the bane of her existence.

"Mr. Noah! You come see me! You take her away! She call me liar! Tries to take my keys!" Milos announced to Puck.

He smiled good naturedly at the older man. "No problem Milos. I'll take care of it."

Before she could protest, he's got her by the elbow and he's yanking her out of the office.

"Unhand me! I'm perfectly capable of walking without you attempting to dislocate my shoulder!" She yelped as she attempted to wrench her arm from his grasp.

He shook his head at her antics and ignored her words. "You are a piece of work. You seriously just accused a sixty year old man of stealing. What the fuck Berry!"

"My trophies are missing. And don't curse at me." She told him as she half walked/half stumbled down the hall, since he'd yet to release her.

He barked out a laugh. "Let me get this straight. Your trophies went missing. And instead of remembering you work in a building full of high schoolers, you blame the janitor. Way to go." He chuckles at her ridiculous accusation.

She flushed scarlet. "My door was locked I assumed-"

"That was your first mistake. Never assume. This place is full of little shitheads waiting to pull a fast one on an unsuspecting teacher." He interrupted as he steered her towards Figgins' office.

He knocked twice before walking in, only releasing her once the door was close.

"We need to do a mandatory locker search. Rachel's had some shit stolen. But I don't want any warning announcements. I want to do it right after lunch, in that free period. We'll need a few other teachers." Puck informed him.

Figgins nodded. "That's fine, gather whoever you need, if anyone gives you any trouble, let me know. If and when you find the perpetrator, let me know what kind of punishment you want handed out Rachel."

Rachel looked taken aback. "I get to decide the punishment?" She clarified.

Figgins nodded. "Awesome. Berry, meet me in the senior locker bay at 12:20." Puck suggested as the two of them made their way to the door.

"Rachel, wait a moment please." Figgins called.

Puck nodded to both of them before turning and heading to his office.

She turned to face her boss, waiting for him to explain his request to stay behind.

"I just wanted to take a moment and tell you how impressed I am with the way you two are handling things. You've been professional and courteous to one another. Your marked improvement will be noted." He told her.

She did everything she could to resist rolling her eyes. Things between her and Noah were anything BUT professional and courteous. But she'd take a pat on the back, if nothing else, it was a testament to her acting abilities.

She said her goodbyes and made her way back to her office. She had some paperwork to finish before the locker search.

Puck was standing in the hallway that led to the locker bay the seniors occupied. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation. He was going to enjoy this.

Figgins announcement came just as the kids started pouring out of the cafeteria. Rachel showed just as he was informing the students to unlock and remain at their lockers until they'd been thoroughly searched.

He cracked a smirk at her approach. This was going to be fun, he was always up for a little ball busting.

"Berry, you take the right, I'll take the left."

She nodded and the search began. Fifteen minutes later, he heard Rachel squawk angrily. He turned and slapped his hand to his head the minute he saw who she was squawking at.

"DAMNIT Hawkes!" He hollered. The locker behind the boy was filled to the brim with Rachel's trophies.

The muscular boy had the decency to look sheepish.

Puck grabbed the brown cardboard box he'd brought along in case the trophies were recovered.

"Put them back in here. GENTLY." Puck instructed him, his arms folded across his chest.

Rachel stood next to him, her cheeks bright red, her chest heaving. She was seriously pissed. If he wasn't so angry at his star quarterback, he'd have taken a moment to appreciate the tiny brunette next to him.

"What's it gonna be Coach?" The boy asked miserably, once the trophies were loaded back into the box.

"For starters, we're all heading over to Ms. Berry's office to put those back where they belong. After that, she's in charge of your punishment." Puck informed the young man as they began the trek back to her office.

David Hawkes began to grin. A woman punishing him…. She couldn't do half the damage Coach could.

Puck caught the grin and shook his head. "I wouldn't if I were you. She's been given permission to punish you in any way she sees fit."

The boy paled. He'd never had much interaction with the small woman but what he did know scared him a bit.

The trio silently finished their journey. He put every trophy back in its place and turned to the small woman.

"Have a seat David." She gestured to her visitor's chair as she sat down in her own.

Puck opted to lean against the wall. Had it been any other student, he would have left, but this, this he was nervous about. He knew how her mind worked. This was going to be ugly.

"What you did Mr. Hawkes, was incredinly wrong. I believe it's classified as breaking and entering. You violated my privacy and that is entirely unacceptable. Now, you are quite an impressive athlete, aren't you Mr. Hawkes?" She started, her voice calm and neutral.

Puck winced. She was going to go there.

"Yeah."

"Mr. Hawkes, 'Yeah' is not an appropriate response."

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, seeing as you're in line for a very lucrative scholarship; based on your athletic abilities, I can't very well ban you from your sport, that wouldn't help you in the slightest." She continued.

Both men expelled breaths they didn't realize they were holding.

"However. It's been brought to my attention, on several occasions, that you possess an above average singing voice. Your punishment will be joining glee. You will be at every single practice, every single performance, regardless of any games that may interfere." She started.

Both of them had twin looks of protest marring their faces.

A flashback to earlier in the day flitted through her mind. "In addition to attending glee, you will also be responsible for cleaning my office, in its entirety, every morning before I arrive. Both of these punishments will carry through the end of the year. And I believe it would be in your best interest to keep your thoughts to yourself, as I will gladly add to your punishment at the slightest disagreement on your part." She finished, her tone now steely and cold.

David had clearly underestimated this woman. He'd thought a slap on the wrist, maybe a couple days suspension, but this…. This was completely unexpected. He gulped and nodded slowly.

"You will start tomorrow. You may go David."

The boy jumped up and quickly withdrew himself from her presence.

Puck plopped down into the chair the boy had been occupying.

"Why do I feel like I'm being punished too?" He asked, eyebrow arched.

She shrugged innocently. "I've got no idea what you're talking about." She told him dismissively.

He considered pressing the issue for a moment, but no matter what, he wasn't going to win this. Not yet at least. Figgins had given her free reign. He'd respect that. He'd just find some other way to "respond".

"Cleaning your office every day huh? That wouldn't have anything to do with you accusing our janitor of theft, would it?" He asked, switching subjects.

She had the decency to blush as this statement. "I figured he was probably done with me." She muttered.

Puck laughed out loud at her admittance. He stood and leaned forward on her desk, his hands planted firmly on the edges.

"I've gotta hand it to you. You sure do know how to punish a guy."

Rachel responded before she realized what she was saying. "You have no idea."

There went that eyebrow again. "Really? Well, maybe I should up the ante a little, clearly I haven't been bad enough."

She gulped both at his words and his proximity.

"Or maybe, I've just been the wrong kind of bad…." He muttered before he pushed off her desk and sauntered out, tossing her a cheeky smirk before he shut the door.

A moment later, he heard a muffled shriek followed by something solid clunking against the door. He grinned to himself. She may have changed, but she was still Rachel Berry.

A/N 4: So what do you think? Like it?

To address a question brought up in a review: Why is Quinn not the Cheerios coach? I thought about that but in the show, she cut ties with the Cheerios and I liked that, it seemed to change her a bit, so I kept it that way.

A/N 5: Expect this kind of back and forth between them. Expect to see little snippets like this here and there. It will get more intense. I've got ideas.

Stay tuned!


	6. Friday Nights

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 6: Friday Nights

There was a time when Rachel used to love Fridays. It was the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend, the beginning of her "me" time.

Now, thanks to her new responsibilities, Friday meant going to the football games to oversee the Cheerios.

She'd fought Noah tooth and nail over it, but in the end, sad as it was to admit, he'd won.

_Flashback_

"_I'm sorry but I just don't see why you are forcing this on me. The girls don't need me there. They know these routines better than I do. Natalie is an excellent captain, I don't believe it's necessary for me to attend these ridiculous games."_

_He rolled his eyes. "Natalie is the head cheerleader, but you need to attend the games, show support for the girls and for the school. It's your job."_

"_I agreed to coach them. I agreed to escort them to competitions. I did NOT agree to attend these ludicrous displays of male testosterone!"_

_He shot her a smug smile. "Well, it's a good thing it's not your call then, huh?"_

_She narrowed her eyes dangerously at the man sitting across from her. Whatever he was about to say, she was fairly certain she wasn't going to like it._

_Her arms folded in front of her, she fixed him with a stony stare and raised her eyebrows slightly at him, a silent suggestion for him to continue._

_Puck took the suggestion in stride. "As far the Cheerios go, you do still answer to me. There is absolutely nothing standing in the way of you going to the games, so I suggest you get used to the idea of attending them."_

_Her eyes were dark and stormy when he pulled his 'I'm the boss, do as I say' card. _

"_Fine but I'm not wearing that stupid track suit!" She announced before turning on her heel and fleeing from his presence._

_End Flashback_

She glanced at the small clock in the right corner of her computer. School would be out soon. She was going to run home, change into an outfit more suited towards school spirit and meet the girls back at school by 5.

"You know, for it being Friday afternoon, you sure look depressed."

The voice of the petite blonde infiltrated her damp mood.

"There's a football game tonight." She retorted darkly, not meeting her friend's gaze.

Quinn's eyes softened as her face took on a dreamy, faraway look. "I loved Friday nights." She replied wistfully as she stepped into Rachel's office.

Rachel smiled at her friend's trip down memory lane. Of course Quinn loved Friday nights. Briefly, she wondered why Noah hadn't bullied her into taking over the Cheerios.

"Rach?"

She snapped her head back towards Quinn. "Sorry, just lost in thought."

"Care to share?" Her friend questioned softly.

"I was just thinking about how it was unusual you didn't want to take over the Cheerios yourself."

Quinn winced a bit and Rachel opened her mouth to apologize, she hadn't known this was a sore subject.

"Q, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was-" She started before Quinn stopped her.

"It's OK. It's a fair question. He offered it to me first. I thought about it, a lot. I almost took it. But then I remembered the person I became when I was a Cheerio. I'm not interested in going back into that world. I'm not so naïve to think I could change those girls. And you shouldn't be either." Quinn finished her statement with a warning.

Rachel gave her a knowing smile. "I'm not trying to change them. I'm just trying to keep the peace. Doing what I have to do."

"Always the practical one. Now, I'll be at the game too. But a bunch of us are going out afterwards, we're going to the Drinking Horn and I think you should come too."

Rachel hesitated. She had been to a few school related functions with some of her fellow co-workers, but nothing quite like this. She'd always gotten the impression that they liked her OK, but clearly not enough to involve her in their personal lives.

"I don't know Quinn. That seems like it might be more your scene then mine." Rachel surmised after a moment's consideration.

Rachel wasn't wrong. Quinn had been popular at McKinley when she was a student so it hadn't been that big of a shock to discover she was popular as an employee as well.

"C'mon B. Please? I invited Matt and Mike. I'm sure they'd love to see you." She teased.

"That's right! They moved back a few months ago! I'd forgotten!" She exclaimed, a smile lighting up her otherwise gloomy face.

Quinn did a silent victory dance. She was nearly certain she had her.

"OK then! The Drinking Horn after the game!" She chirped as she scurried to the door, not giving Rachel the chance to say no.

It was 4:25. She had managed to shower and fix her hair and makeup. A quick glance at the clock reminded her she needed to leave in approximately 20 minutes or else she'd be late.

It wasn't her fault her closet wasn't cooperating. She wanted to be spirited, but comfortable, and look nice for the gathering afterwards.

After sifting through her pants, she decided jeans would be best, and went with a pair of dark wash. She tossed those onto her neatly made bed and turned back to closet.

Her eyes lit upon a summer purchase she'd forgotten about. The candy apple red tailored short sleeved casual jacket. It was perfect. She snatched it off the hanger, grabbed a white v-neck top and quickly got dressed. She shoved her feet into her neutral pointed toe flats, grabbed her purse and headed out.

The boys were pumped. They'd worked very hard the past several weeks and the season opener had drawn a hell of a crowed.

He quickly changed from his daily uniform into a pair of tan khakis and zipped his red and white McKinley jacket over his white button down. He secured a cap on his shaved head and appraised his appearance. He looked every inch a high school football coach.

A quick glance at the clock on the wall reminded him of the time. He grabbed his clipboard and his whistle and headed down to the locker room to rile his boys up with the pep talk he'd worked on all day.

He was nervous. This was going to be his first opportunity to prove he could do the job he'd been hired to do and he wanted everyone to see his employment at McKinley was going to pay off.

"You didn't have to come to the game Ms. Berry. I could have handled it." Natalie informed her as the other girls stretched and chatted excitedly about the first game.

Rachel gave the young girl a wry smile. She was one of the few girls on the squad that seemed to actually like her. "I know you could've but I'm your coach, and I'm fully committed to my role." It took everything she had to keep herself from blurting out she was only here because she'd been forced to attend.

Natalie offered her a small grin and nodded. "Well, don't worry, you won't have to do too much, we can do the football game routines in our sleep." The young red head informed her before heading off to round up the girls; they'd be taking the field soon.

She made sure to wait until the petite head cheerleader was out of earshot before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Nice outfit Berry."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms before turning to face her "boss".

"Something I can help you with _Mr. Puckerman_?"

He winced at the obvious dig.

"Don't call me that. And I heard what Natalie told you. This is a cake walk. So why don't you just relax and try to enjoy yourself."

She rolled her eyes. "If it's such a cake walk, then why did your force me to be here?" She demanded.

He chuckled at her obvious frustration.

"I told you, Berry. You need to show your support for your girls, your team and your school. It's the right thing to do. Plus, you're kinda fun to boss around."

His words hit their intended target square on the nose. Her face brightened to a vibrant crimson, her eyes widened briefly before narrowing into an angry glare.

The thoughts she attempted to put into words came out as sputtering.

"You… I'm not… This isn't… Abuse of power… Completely ridiculous…"

His laughter cut through her garbled rant, which only seemed to piss her off further.

"Hopefully you'll have it together by the time we get to the bar." He commented as he turned to leave.

She gathered herself enough to ask one question.

"You're going?"

He shot her a smirk and a wink. "Yep. Who do you think told Quinn to invite you?"

NEXT UP:

The bar scene. We'll be reuniting with Mike and Matt and we'll find out why Rachel's in Lima. Don't get too worked up. I haven't decided exactly why yet. I welcome suggestions as to why she's returned!

Review and let me know what you think!


	7. The Explosion

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 7: The Explosion

As much as she hated to admit it, (and would later deny it) she enjoyed the game.

That's right. Rachel Berry enjoyed an honest to goodness football game.

There was something about the smell of popcorn, the sound of the cheers, the excited murmurs from masses of people crowding the bleachers and the slight chill in the air… She felt like she was part of it, in the moment. And she kind of… She kind of loved it.

Her girls performed fabulously, not that she'd thought they'd perform any differently. And perhaps it'd paid off; McKinley won their first game of the season.

She'd screamed and applauded right along with her girls and the crowd as the boys celebrated loudly down on the field.

Her eyes found Noah in the throng of his boys. His grin was genuine and she knew he was ecstatic, and rightly so, he'd just coached his boys to the first victory of the season. He'd earned the right to be excited.

His eyes locked onto hers a moment later. She felt her cheeks flush as she offered him a small wave. He gave her a wink in return.

_Why does this feel like high school all over again?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a pair of arms grabbing her into a fierce hug. "See! I told you this would be fun! The girls did great!" Quinn shrieked as she clung tightly to her friend.

Rachel returned the hug and allowed herself to get caught up in the moment.

"What an awesome way to start the season! Now, go take care of the girls, get them on their way and meet me and the others at the bar when you're done!" Quinn informed her before jogging off towards her car, not giving Rachel the opportunity to protest.

She smiled wryly at her friend's disappearing back before turning back to the girls. "Alright ladies, fantastic job! Great way to start the season! Let's pack it in and get going."

The girls followed her lead and headed towards the locker room to gather their belongings. Thankfully, the girls weren't showering and changing like the boys, so they were in and out fairly quickly.

Rachel did a quick sweep of the locker room before stopping off at the small attached office. She grabbed her purse and stepped to one of the mirrors. She quickly fixed her makeup and fluffed her hair. It had been a little more than a long time since she'd gone out with people, well, people besides Quinn.

Satisfied with her appearance, she grabbed her bag and headed out.

Puck was the last one to make it to the bar, which was just fine by him, he kind of liked 'making an entrance'.

He stepped into the bar and was met with a rousing round of applause. He grinned broadly as he graciously accepted the congratulatory words, high fives and hugs.

His eyes lit up when his gaze fell to the two men he'd been buddies with since high school.

"Who the fuck let you two in!" He exclaimed as he strode up to two of his best friends.

"Hell of a game Puckerman. Who knew you could make something outta yourself!" Matt replied as her warmly clapped his hand down on Puck's shoulder.

Mike handed him a beer. "You really whipped those guys into shape. Takes a lot of work. I'm impressed Puck. You've changed, a lot." Mike praised his friend.

"Speaking of changed, check out Rachel Freaking Berry. What the hell? She was the last person I expected to see here, let alone coaching Cheerios. I thought for sure she'd have taken Broadway hostage by now."

"Yeah, I did too. But she's here. Don't exactly know why, but she is. Guidance Counselor and glee coach. And Cheerios coach when I force her to be." He informed them as his gaze came to rest on the woman in question.

"Well, for whatever reason, she's back and time has certainly been kind to her." Matt replied, appreciation evident in his voice.

Puck slid a glance towards the smaller man. "Thought you were hitcin' your wagon to Quinn these days." He commented as he took a pull off his beer.

Matt nodded. "I am. Or at least, I'm trying to. She's not making it easy." He returned, his eyes flitting to the blonde in question.

"Too bad for you. Luckily for me, I'm not hitched to anything at the moment. Always kinda had a secret thing for Rachel, especially back in high school." Mike muttered as he slapped down a five to pay for his beer.

Puck snorted at Mike's 'confession'.

"What?"

"Dude, it was not a secret. Mostly because you kept telling everyone about it every time you saw her. I'm pretty sure even she knew."

There was a long pause. Mike stared down into his beer briefly before turning back to Puck.

"You really think she knew? Cause if she did and pretended like she didn't…. That's like her saying she wasn't interested." Mike stuttered out.

Matt and Puck exchanged twin looks of frustration. "Well, that's the only logical conclusion to draw buddy. I'd say she ignored it because she wasn't interested." Matt explained gently.

Mike nodded, his eyes cast to the floor.

Before either of his friends could process what had just happened, his head was up and his eyes were bright.

"That was a really long time ago guys. I'm sure she doesn't feel like that anymore. I'm going to go say hi." Mike exclaimed before hurrying off in Rachel's suggestion.

Matt shook his head and rolled his eyes. Mike was a nice guy, but not exactly the brightest star in the sky.

"So what's the real deal with her? You really don't know why she's here?" Matt questioned.

Puck shrugged. "Wish I did. I haven't exactly been able to get the story out of her." He replied nonchalantly.

Matt raised an eyebrow at his friend. "She works at the same school as you. You're kind of her boss. You probably see her a lot. How could you not… Oh, wait, nevermind, forgot who I was talking to." Matt muttered, his sentence trailing off as he set his empty bottle back on the bar.

Puck rolled his eyes skyward. "So maybe I'm not Captain Friendly. So what? I never have been. I've got responsibilities, things to do. If she's going to try to sabotage me every step of the way…." He faded off, mostly because Mike had just enveloped Rachel in a big bear hug, a hug which she seemed to be reciprocating, ecstatically in fact.

"Hmm. Looks like Mike may've had a point. I'm going to go say hi." Matt informed him and left before his friend could comment.

"Mike Chang and Matt Rutherford in the flesh! It's so great to see you guys! I heard you'd moved back! I trust this means we'll be seeing more of you two?" Rachel asked as she pulled back from her hug from Matt.

"Well that depends. Just how much of me do you want to-" Mike started to reply, but was cut off when he was gently shoved into Matt.

"Nice outfit Berry." Puck commented, deciding now was a good time to join the conversation.

She gave him a long look before responding. "Well, it is my understanding that school spirit involves representing the school colors within your clothing, so I was merely following protocol." She replied primly, her eyebrow arched, as if challenging him to come up with an equally eloquent retort.

"One day you're gonna puke up that dictionary you swallowed." He noted as he turned his attention back to his buddies.

Quinn silently watched the exchange in front of her unfold. It was as she'd suspected. The tension was as thick as ever. She narrowed her eyes in thought, twirling her straw between her fingers as the wheels began to turn in her mind.

"I know that look Fabray, whatever scheme you're cooking up, it's probably not going to work." Matt's voice tickled across the blonde's cheek.

She had the decency to blush at his accusation. "I was only going to help." She muttered back as he handed her a new drink.

"They do NOT need our help, that much is obvious. They'll figure it out all on their own." Matt reassured her.

Needless to say, Quinn was less than convinced, and it seems as though the gods agreed with her because not a moment later, Rachel was being led onto the dance floor by Mike.

She quickly glanced in Puck's direction, expecting to see some sort of jealousy, anger, frustration, something.

But, no, nothing that even resembled a response. He was just sitting there quietly, nursing a beer and chatting with one of his physical education cronies. It was as if he hadn't even noticed.

_Hmmm… Well, that'll change._

With a gleam in her eye and an idea in her mind, she stood and marched over to the DJ booth and requested a song.

It was an old one but Rachel loved it and more importantly, loved dancing to it.

The strains of Sexyback filled his ears. He rolled his eyes. He hadn't heard this song in years.

A waitress set another beer in front of him and as she moved from his line of sight, his gaze fell on Rachel and Mike.

His eyes narrowed a bit as he took in the dynamic duo grind and move against one another.

"How did I not know she could move like that?" Matt asked as he appeared next to Puck.

"Should you be making comments like that with your woman right there?" He shot back.

Matt shrugged. "Quinn knows where I park my car. Even she knows Rachel's hot. It's not like I'm running out there trying to get in on the action. Looks like Mike's got that covered anyways." Matt pointed out before turning his attention back to the blonde who'd just returned to his side.

"I feel dirty." Matt whispered in her ear.

Quinn grinned up at her sort-of boyfriend. "Well, I can be pretty convincing when I want to be."

His face broke into a wide grin as he wrapped his arm around the petite woman next to him. Life was good, even if it meant playing a few mind games with his buddy.

Rachel and Mike returned from the dance floor, red faced and panting a bit. "I'm going to go grab a drink." Mike told her, touching her elbow briefly before stepping away.

She nodded and turned around, fully expecting to grab her drink and instead found herself face to face with Puck.

"Where'd you learn to dance like that?" He asked conversationally as he handed her the abandoned drink she was looking for.

She offered him a one shouldered shrug. "College I guess."

"Didn't think Juilliard taught those kinds of courses."

Her eyes hardened just a bit at his off the cuff statement. She attempted to mask expression but he'd caught the look before she'd successfully hidden it.

"I didn't go to Juilliard." She replied, her voice cool and even, it should have been his first warning to back off.

He didn't catch it, or rather, chose to ignore it.

"Well then Berry, where did you go to college?" He challenged, his words taunting her.

"I don't see how that matters." She replied hotly, her eyes flashing.

"If it doesn't matter, why are you having such a problem telling me?" He countered, taking a little delight in her obvious discomfort.

She glared hatefully into his deep green eyes. "You really want to know? Ohio State. I went to Ohio State. I stayed here because as much as I wanted New York, they didn't want me!"

His eyes widened a bit at her outburst. He opened his mouth to reply but she beat him to it.

"Shocking huh? The girl with all the big dreams never got farther than first round auditions. I was a nobody, OK? I couldn't even get into most auditions because no one would represent me! I ran out of money and I had no choice but to come back. There, are you happy now? Now that I've announced my colossal failures to the whole bar, maybe you'll leave me alone!" Her voice was shaking from the previously unreleased anger.

He took two giant steps back as she seethed in front of him.

"I…. I didn't… I wasn't-" He fumbled out, attempting to explain his badgering.

"Save it. We're done here." She snapped back before grabbing her jacket and purse from the barstool. She shot Quinn a quick "I'm sorry." and stormed out.

"You couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?" Quinn exclaimed, clearly exasperated with his behavior.

She didn't give him a chance to response either, she was out the door, following Rachel.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure you owe her a huge apology." Matt suggested needlessly.

At 9 am the next morning, that's exactly what he was doing.

Her house was small but clearly well taken care of. Her lawn was tidy, her flower garden, immaculate.

He smoothed his hand over the polo he was wearing and swore under his breath. Apologies were not his specialty. Not by a long shot.

He adjusted his glasses, stepped from his truck and started up the walk.

Rachel started at the sound of the bell. She glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Who on earth is visiting at 9 am on a Saturday?" She muttered as she shuffled towards the door.

She offered the mirror a cursory check. Yoga pants, white tee, bare feet and her reading glasses. Her messy, sleep destroyed hair was pushed into a sloppy pony tail.

Without even checking the peep hole, she unlocked the door and pulled it open, only to stop dead in her tracks.

There in front of her stood the reason she wasn't able to sleep the night before.

"Here to ruin my weekend Puckerman?" She snarled as she crossed her arms in front of her.

He raised an eyebrow, both at her statement and her attire. Clearly she hadn't been up too long.

His dark glasses hid his eyes as his gaze swept over her trim figure. He decided he most definitely liked this look on her.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"Sorry, no, I don't think that's a good idea." She shot back coldly.

He sighed. She wasn't making this easy on him, that much was obvious.

"I owe you an apology." He started, unsure of how this was going to go, he'd just realized he had absolutely no words planned for this conversation.

"You do." She agreed, her voice still cool, her body unmoving.

"Look, I'm shitty at this. I acted like an asshole and you didn't deserve that. You're a really nice woman and I was raised to do better by women. I'm pretty sure my ma would kill me if she knew what I did. Don't tell her by the way? But yeah, I had no right to nose into your business. So from now on, I'll be… I'll be professional. I won't call you Berry or make pervy comments at you, I'll just, I'll be better." He fumbled out, his face slightly red at his pathetic excuse of an apology.

He waited several moments for her response but she didn't say or do anything.

Finally, after the awkward silence became unbearable, he sighed, rubbed his head and turned. "OK, well, like I said, I'm sorry. I guess I'll see you Monday." He said at last, turning to go.

"Apology accepted. But… You… You can still be you, OK? You, believe it or not, I like. Just maybe try being a little nicer?" She suggested, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned to face her, a small grin gracing his face.

"I think maybe I could work on it."

She rolled her eyes and offered her hand. "Deal."

SO THERE'S 7. HOPE YOU LIKED. PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU DO.


	8. Mind Games

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 8: Mind Games

He'd tried to be nice. He really, really tried.

But when his sister announced she was quitting sports in favor of glee, he may have…. He may have blown a gasket or two… Or eight.

He stomped down the hall towards Rachel's office minutes after Abbie'd vacated his office, calling him an asshole as she slammed the door.

Not bothering to knock, he burst through the door angrily.

Rachel started when her door banged open and Noah barged in, his cheeks flushed and his chest heaving. His fists were clenched at his sides. He was obviously upset. And she had a sneaking suspicion as to what had him so riled up.

"This is YOUR FAULT! YOU DID THIS! YOU _KNEW_ SHE HAD A SOCCER SCHOLARSHIP IN THE BAG! NOW SHE'S QUITTING TO SING! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" He roared, his anger rolling off him in waves.

Rachel jumped up from her desk and hurriedly pushed the door shut. This clearly was not a conversation for the masses.

She strode right up to him and met his angry gaze with a furious one of her own.

]

"You listen to me Noah Puckerman! I did NOT 'do' this, as you so eloquently put it. A talent scout from the Tisch School heard us last year and Nationals and has been following your sister ever since. He made contact with me early this morning to offer her a scholarship. It's a full ride. So forgive me for DOING MY JOB, but I thought this was an amazing opportunity." She shot back, her own voice laced with frustration.

He took a step back. "The Tisch School?" He questioned quietly. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Yes. The Tisch School of the Arts. I'm sure you've heard of it. Though, they don't have a football team, so maybe not." She replied, her tone snide and pissy.

"You should've consulted with me first." He told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're not her mother." She reminded him as she plopped back down at her desk.

"I'm your boss when it comes to sports, this was a sports related situation." He informed her.

She rolled his eyes at his ridiculous argument.

"_Please!_ This was NOT sports related. This was school related, future related, LIFE related. I did my job as her guidance counselor. I informed her and your mother. They are both elated, though I doubt you noticed or cared." She remarked, clearly exasperated with him.

"She committed to OSU." He grappled, knowing his words were falling on deaf ears.

"Try again Noah. She didn't. She told me herself. Save yourself the trouble and skip the lying, I deal with it all day long." She suggested as she pulled out some files, hoping in vain that he'd get the message.

"So you just… You don't care that I'm pissed? You don't care that you just destroyed years of hard work on both her part and mine? You don't care that you just completely altered my sister's future? That doesn't bother you!" He demanded, pissed that she wasn't taking this more seriously.

Her face reddened at his accusation. How dare he imply she didn't care? How could he sit there and think she didn't care about his sister or her future?

She slowly stood, squared her shoulders and walked straight up to him.

"You clearly are NOT listening to me. I didn't do this. I didn't request a scout come out to see her, I didn't send off tapes, I didn't do any stumping. I didn't do anything of that because of her scholarship to OSU. I wanted to, but I didn't. They sought her out, they offered this to her all on their own. When they called me, I did my job. I informed her of her options. What was I supposed to do Noah? Tell them she wasn't interested! Tell her not to take it!" She cried out, clearly frustrated with his childish behavior.

"YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO!" He exploded, his hands thrown widely out to his sides.

Rachel stared at him, her mouth ajar.

"You are unbelievable. Get out of my office." She hissed, her voice low and menacing.

"Oh please midget, what are you going to do?" He taunted, using the nickname she knew she despised.

"You have not changed one bit since high school. You are nothing more than a selfish child. You care more about what you want than what your sister wants. I can't do this with you anymore. I can't. It's not worth it. I'm done with the Cheerios. Go ahead, change the schedules, throw a slushie at me, I really don't care anymore. Anything is better than having you as a boss." She spit out, her words harsh and cold.

He felt like he'd just been punched in the face. He attempted to find words but he had none. He wasn't even sure he had the ability to speak anymore.

"I suggest you leave before I call security and tell them you're verbally harassing me." She said as she pointed to the door.

"Berry, look, I'm-" He started, not even knowing exactly what he was saying. It didn't matter because she cut him off.

"Done. You're done. We're done. Go." She informed him, not bothering to even make eye contact with him.

Not knowing what else to say, he turned and left.

Exactly one hour later, Quinn Fabray was standing in the doorway to his office.

"She's right you know. You acted childishly and very selfish. You hurt her feelings. She's considering tendering her resignation." The blonde revealed, stepping into the room.

His head snapped up at her last words.

"Rachel's quitting?" He asked, his voice rising a bit. He hadn't expected that, not by a long shot.

Quinn took a seat across from him. "Why shouldn't she? She quit the Cheerios, she knows what's going to happen next. It's only a matter of time before you change the practice schedules back and leave her to deal with the fallout. She figures she could go somewhere else and not have to deal with the constant bickering. I actually agree. I think it'll be better for her."

Puck panicked. This wasn't good. As much as he hated to admit it, Rachel needed to stay. His sister needed her to stay. This scholarship would disappear if glee went under, which is what would happen if she left. He may've been pissed at her but he didn't want her leaving over him. No, letting her do that would only prove her point.

"Food for thought huh? I'll leave you to contemplate the colossal mess you've caused and the lives you're inevitably going to destroy by causing her to do this." The nurse quipped before standing and stalking out of his office.

He had to stop her. She couldn't quit. He was pretty sure Abbie would never forgive him, and hell, he may not forgive himself either.

Wasting no further time, he jumped from his seat and rushed back to Rachel's office, intending to say whatever he had to in order to get her to stay.

For the second time that day, Noah Puckerman barged through her door and began speaking without any invitation to do so.

"Listen, I was pretty shitty to you earlier and I know you didn't deserve that. You did your job. I shouldn't have lost my shit like I did especially since it's been like, two weeks since I promised I'd be nicer. I know it seems like all I've done is fuck up and then apologize but don't leave, ok? Don't leave. Abbie needs you here. The school needs you. You're like, really good at what you do and I don't wanna be the one who drives that away. So if you stay, I won't make you be the Cheerios coach and I won't change the practice schedules. I'll just… I'll just leave you alone." He finished sheepishly, feeling a little embarrassed at his awkward plea/apology.

Rachel stared at him as if he had a horn growing between his eyes.

"Noah, I assure you, despite what you may have heard from a certain blonde nurse, I am NOT going anywhere. Quit? Seriously? Does that sound like something I would do? Over you of all people?" She questioned, crossing her arms in front of herself.

He was momentarily distracted by the way her boobs were pushed a little further out of her top. He was still itching to touch those bad boys. He had no doubt that they'd done nothing but improve since high school….

"Puckerman! Eyes up!" She scolded, narrowing her eyes at him.

He jumped and had the decency to look uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure what she told you but I'm not going anywhere. But I am taking your offer as a binding verbal contract. That was very generous of you, especially where your sister is concerned. Perhaps you should go find her and apologize for your undoubtedly horrendous reaction to her announcement."

Not knowing what else to do or say, he nodded and walked out, slightly confused by the conversation he'd just been involved in.

But, as most things did, the reality hit him within moments of shutting her door.

He'd been mind fucked.

He'd been mind fucked by his one time baby mama.

And he couldn't help feeling like Rachel may have had a hand in it.

He glanced through her window and she turned to look at him. She offered him a wave and a smile.

He waved back, lost in thought. What the hell had he just done?

A/N 4: So I know that's two huge blow ups in a row but things are going to take a turn for the better in the next chapter. They're going to warm up and we're going to see the beginnings of some changes in the relationship. Stay tuned.

A/N 5: I have to take a moment and give a shout out to two girls. MissRe has been reading my stories since the days of my Grey's Anatomy fanfiction,which started back in 2007. BabyD-Montana Girl has been around since my CSI NY Fanfiction (which I still write) and I started that in 2006. Ladies, you are awesome. If I could give you all gifts, I would.

And let's not forget the amazing Mag721. Still reviewing every chapter. You are stellar my friend. Top notch.

A/N 6: I have a blog, a facebook page (who doesn't?) and a wedding website. I consider you people to be friends so if you want any of that info, let me know or go to my profile page, I just added it all.

That is all. Commence with the comments!


	9. Playing Dirty

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 9: Playing Dirty

Truth be told, Rachel didn't expect anything between her and Noah to change. She knew him and she knew their past. Zebras don't change their stripes and Noah doesn't change his ways.

Except, he did, kind of.

He kept his word. He left her alone. In every sense of the word. He no longer acknowledged her existence in any fashion. There were no more winks in the hallways, barely there touches on her arm or leering at her legs. It seemed as though, to him, she no longer existed.

That thought, the idea of not existing in Noah Puckerman's world, definitely should not have bothered her. At all.

And yet…. It did. It bothered her far more than it should have.

It had been nearly two weeks since their conversation and his oath to leave her be.

It had been two hours since Rachel decided she didn't want to be left alone anymore.

It had been two minutes since she'd come up with the perfect plan to worm her way back into his life.

Her brilliant plan? She was going to offer to take back coaching the cheerios. He'd see how generous she was being, see her obvious extension of an olive branch and things would be back to normal.

She grimaced slightly at the thought of adding that horrid duty back onto her plate but she didn't like the "Rachel Berry Doesn't Exist" treatment anymore. She didn't want that any longer, that much she knew.

What she didn't know, however, was what she _did_ want. In fact, she preferred not to answer that question at the moment.

Instead, she stood, smoothed away any stray wrinkles in her charcoal gray pencil skirt, ran a hand through her hair and started towards her office, silently practicing various options for her 're-acceptance of the cheerios' speech in her head.

_I think, given the situation, it's only right if I take the girls back. They need a coach, they shouldn't be deprived of their sport._

_Let me take the girls back, they need me and well, you need me too._

_I want to help, I want to make this right. I'll take the cheerios back on their coach, it's the least I can do._

_We're friends. The girls need a coach, let me help my friend._

_I'd like to work under you again. I want you to be in charge again, let me work for you._

She quickly dismissed the last one, it sounded far too suggestive.

She came to a halt outside his door. She decided to be direct and kind. She knew he needed help and she was willing to offer it.

Rachel tapped twice on the door and turned the knob only after he'd sounded out his approval.

He glanced up from some paperwork on his desk and nearly dropped his pen.

Woman was dressed to kill. Her plum tank plunged a bit lower than her normal shirts, the black cardigan she wore over it did nothing to hide her décolletage. The dark gray pencil skirt hugged every curve, emphasizing the dips and valleys between her waist and chest. The ridiculously high peep toe stilettos made those legs go on forever.

"Ms. Berry." He choked out, his attempt to remain polite barely making a dent in his thought process.

She offered him a small smile and moved forward.

"Really, Noah, call me Rachel. I've come to talk to you about our altercation a few weeks ago. You promised you'd leave me alone. And, despite my skepticism, you made good on your word. However, I find myself re-thinking that agreement." She started as she took a seat in his visitor's chair across the desk.

He leaned back in his chair, his smirk firmly in place. He propped his arms behind his head and gazed at her for a moment.

"So, let me get this straight, you're saying you miss me…." He mussed, his tone smug and cocky.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Noah, those were not my words. I am simply extending an olive branch, an opportunity to be friends, real friends, that's all. And I thought as a gesture to prove my genuine desire to be friends, I'd offer to take back the coaching of the cheerios."

His eyebrows hit his hair line. She was so eager to show her friendship that she'd take those monsters back on without him forcing them on her?

_Too bad I just hired a coach, I'd love to plop that job back in her lap. Actually, I think I might like to plop her in my lap instead…._

"NOAH!" She exclaimed, yanking him from his fantasy.

He sat up straight and shook his head a bit, clearing the slightly naughty thought from his mind.

"Listen, Berry, as um… cool as it is to offer that, I've actually already hired someone to coach them."

Rachel gulped. She hadn't been expecting that. In fact, she'd been expecting quite the opposite, to be welcomed back with open arms, not tossed aside like yesterday's newspaper.

"Oh, I see. I suppose it hadn't crossed my mind that you'd hire someone. Makes sense, of course you'd hire someone, the girls can't go without a coach, and well, you certainly aren't going to coach them. I apologize, I should have-" She was rambling again, and try as she might, she wasn't able to cut her off, so Puck did.

"RACHEL! It's OK. I appreciate the offer, and if Santana hadn't accepted the position an hour ago, it'd be all yours. I'd have much rather kept it in house, for many reasons, but like you said, the girls can't go without a coach, Figgins wouldn't have it." Puck explained as he sat forward in his chair.

Rachel froze at the mention of her former classmate. "Santana? Santana's coming back?" She blurted out, unable to process the concept of her former nemesis returning to their old stomping grounds.

"She is. She'll start tomorrow but we're going out to Schmitt's tonight for a celebratory drink. You should stop by, say hi." He suggested, enjoying the mortified look on her face a little too much.

"I've got plans this evening. Perhaps I'll come by tomorrow. I am the guidance counselor after all, I do have a stellar reputation to uphold, even if it means being polite to that woman." She informed him, choosing not to use derogatory words to describe the Latina in question.

"Give her a break Berry. We aren't in high school anymore. You might actually like her." He tried, purposely ignoring the part about her having plans, something about the way she said it didn't sit well with him, not well at all.

She narrowed her eyes at him as she lifted herself from her chair and rose to her feet. "She terrorized me in high school, Noah. I know that's difficult to remember since you were too busy groping her and slushying me, but I remember, I remember quite well. So thank you ever so much for bringing that god forsaken woman back into my life!" Rachel hissed only a moment before slamming his office door behind her.

"Told you she'd be pissed. Not that I blame her, from what I remember, Santana was a grade A bitch." Abby remarked as she exited Puck's private restroom.

"Abby, you can't talk like that here. Or at home. Or in public." He chided, cupping his head in his hands.

His younger sister plopped down in the seat Rachel had vacated and gazed curiously at her older brother.

"Why did you do it?" She questioned at last.

"Why'd I do what?" Came his response.

She rolled her eyes before elaborating. "Why'd you hire Santana? I mean, McKinley is known for the cheerios, most coaches would have jumped at the shot to coach them. Instead you give it to your ex-girlfriend who hasn't cheered in like, 8 years. Why would you- Oh god. You're sleeping with her again." She gasped, her eyes widening at her sudden realization.

Puck had the decency to blush and look away.

"Dude! Come on! I thought you were done with this! Now you're giving your hoe a job? Yuck! It's like you're paying her in exchange for having sex with you. That is just so wrong." Abby muttered, cringing at the thought of her brother and Santana getting it on biblical style.

He groaned loudly and scrubbed his hands up and down his face. "Abby. I am an adult, this is my life. You don't get to tell me how to live it or who to live it with." He reminded her.

She barked out a harsh laugh. "Wow. Everything I just said and that's all you've got? What about Rachel?"

She watched as her brother visibly flinched at the very mention of the petite brunette.

"What about her?" He questioned, his tone defensive.

Her left eyebrow arched at his standoffish answer.

"Really? That's your answer? You are so freaking transparent. I know what you're doing, you know. It's not going to work. You dragging Santana's skanky ass back in here to make Rachel jealous is not going to work. She won't come running, if anything she'll pull even farther away." Abby told him as she got to her feet and headed to the door.

"This is about a coach for the cheerios, nothing more!" He called behind her.

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt!" She shot back as the door swished shut.

Rachel was seething. She was seething because Santana was coming back. She was seething because she let him see just how much it bothered her. Well, if he wanted to throw Santana in his face, she could play that game.

A quick glance at the clock on the wall indicated her day was coming to an end soon. She rummaged through her purse, pulled out her Blackberry and fired off a quick text message.

**Rachel: Feel like grabbing a drink before this evening?**

**Greg: Sure. Any place in mind?**

**Rachel: Schmitt's, meet about 6?**

**Greg: Sounds great, I'll see you then.**

Rachel slid her phone back into her purse, a satisfied smirk plastered on her face. She could play his game too. Let's see how much he liked it.

A/N 4: Now come on guys, I wasn't going to make it easy on them! And I'm sure you're all wondering who this guy "Greg" is but you'll find out soon enough, next chapter to be exact. We'll also see the return of Santana and a little bit of Jealous Puck.

Stay tuned and as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	10. And The Truth Comes Out

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 10: And The Truth Comes Out

OY.

This was a bad idea. A VERY bad idea.

There was a very nice, very attractive man, sitting directly across from her, very much wanting to hear all about her and what made her tick.

All Rachel could manage to sputter out was that she had two gay fathers and as for what made her tick? She briefly considered telling him the truth, music. But she vetoed that, she really wasn't in the mood to go into that whole ordeal. So instead, she told him it was the job, the kids, the reward for all her hard work and concentrated effort. At least it wasn't a _total_ lie.

"I'm just going to grab us another round." Greg said as he got to his feet.

Rachel nodded and smiled encouragingly. The moment he disappeared from sight, the smile dropped from her face and her head fell into her hands.

She should have known better. It was beyond taboo for an educator to get involved with the parent of a student.

This had disaster written all over it. All she wanted to do was grab her purse and run, run as far away from that dingy bar as she could.

But she didn't. She didn't because she's _Rachel Berry_ and _Rachel Berry_ doesn't run away from ANYTHING.

So she plastered on her fake smile moments before her date returned with their drinks.

"So, Greg, tell me about yourself." She suggested, turning her charm up a notch. This way, he could talk and she could zone out whilst still managing to appear interested.

"And when his mom died, I decided this would be the best place for him, since I grew up here and all…. Rachel?" Greg finished, noticing the pretty brunette's eyes were burning a hole into the back of a closely cropped male head on the other side of the bar.

"Don't you know him? Isn't that the new athletic director?" Greg questioned, hoping to draw her back in.

"It is, it is indeed. And that little Latin harlot next to him is Santana Lopez, his new cheerleading coach/plaything!" Rachel bit out, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the perfectly styled Latina in question.

"She's staring at us, Puck."

"I know she is."

"Why?"

"Cause she wants it." He shot back easily, offering his longtime friend/occasional fuck buddy a smirk.

Santana rolled her eyes and took a long pull of her beer.

"Seriously."

Puck let out a sigh. "Rachel and me, we haven't been getting along so good." He admitted, knowing the explanation wouldn't be enough but he wasn't going to give it all up without a fight.

"Rachel and I, and I can see that, though, knowing Rachel, I'd say you're the one causing the issues, not her." Santana (correctly) observed.

It was Puck's turn to roll his eyes.

"She's not been happy about my presence since the moment I stepped foot into that school." He confessed, stirring his vodka tonic aimlessly.

Santana's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Why, exactly? I know you guys weren't best friends in high school, but what on earth happened between you two that she hates you now?" She asked.

He sighed and looked away. "It was the summer before college and all I wanted to do was lay low, do nothing, hang with Finn, but she kept getting in the way." He started, already feeling a little bad about what he did.

"Oh God. Really Puck? You were jealous cause your boyfriend couldn't come out and play whenever you wanted?" Santa questioned, raising an eyebrow at what was sure to be an explanation of some incredibly childish behavior.

"I didn't like her hanging around everything we did. She wouldn't let him to do anything. When she put the kibosh our annual camping trip, I decided I'd had enough. So I… I kind…. I kind of broke them up. I followed her around Lima for like two weeks and took pictures of her with any guy she was with at the time. I showed them to Finn and he completely lost it, especially since he recognized a couple of the guys. He ended it with her the next day."

Santana was completely disgusted by the time he finished. "God, no wonder she hates you, you were a total asshole. How'd you manage to catch her with so many dudes? Wait, was she ACTUALLY cheating?" She demanded.

Puck bit his lip and shook his head. "Rachel took tons of those stupid artsy classes and there were always guys so I just followed her to those. Plus, Finn was a total idiot so he bought it. But that actually wasn't the worst part." He confessed.

Santana sat back and crossed her arms. "You're telling me it gets worse?"

He nodded.

"I was… I was there when they broke up. I didn't mean to be but she stopped by with some of her crazy 'I'm sorry for being crazy' cookies and he totally unleashed on her. He called her some shitty names and ended it by pulling a ring out of his pocket and throwing it at her. I guess… I guess he was going to propose." Puck choked out.

"You have GOT to be kidding me."

"Ahh… No. No I'm not. I'm actually totally serious."

"What happened after he threw the ring?" She questioned, her voice lower now, clearly she was less than impressed with his teenaged behavior.

"He left her there. He mentioned during his blow out that I'd seen her and she demanded to see the proof. I wasn't going to show her but she got to my phone before I did. That's when she figured it out, that's when she figured out I set her up. I thought she was going to cut my balls off when she found out." He admitted, feeling almost as bad in that moment as he did all those years before.

Santana stared at him for a long moment.

"Does she think we're sleeping together? Did you bring me back just to piss her off?" She demanded, her tone harsh and cold.

To say he was confused was putting it mildly. "What the hell are you talking about?" He asked, completely thrown off by this new line of questioning.

"You nearly the ruined the girl once before, Puck. It's a reasonable question, especially if I'm part of the equation." She pointed out.

"I'm not trying to ruin her, I swear. I'm just… Things aren't going as well as expected, I never actually apologized for what I did and I haven't made life easy for her here…. Shit, listen, I like her, OK? She's…. She's totally not what I expected and I fucking like her and I keep fucking it up and picking fights with her. I just… I thought if I made her jealous by hiring you, it might actually get me somewhere." He finally admitted.

He opened his mouth to reply but he couldn't put the words together.

"Unbelievable. Asshole. You know what kills me? Despite the fact that you just admitted you like her, that whole thing was about you. You owe her like, so many apologies, it's ridiculous. Seriously Puck? You thought making her jealous was the way to go? Wow, well, I guess no one's ever accused you of being intelligent, huh? And just so we're clear, I'm taking the job, if for no other reason than to keep your pathetic ass on your toes. And don't even think about making anything that resembles a pass, at me." She hissed before she snatched her purse and stalked away.

She snatched her purse off the table and headed towards the door. What made Puck's heart drop though, was the stop she made at Rachel's table.

He watched as Santana spoke briefly to the man before dragging Rachel off her stool and out the doors.

"I know what he did. He told me everything. He's a total dickface and rest assured, he'll pay. I just wanted you to know that I'm not apart of any of his childish bullshit. I'm officially on Team Rachel. I'll even get a shirt made." Santana told her, her words coming low and fast.

Rachel squeaked at her words. She hadn't been expecting any of this. "He… He told you? God, why?"

"I asked what was with the bad blood and he told me. He told me what he did. Then I asked him if my being hired had anything to do with you. And he didn't deny it. So yeah, go Team Rachel." Santana cheered lamely.

Rachel's head dropped and her eyes met the cold, grey cement.

"Wow, so he… He just really is after me huh?" She mumbled, slightly embarrassed at her current situation.

Santana's lips curled into a smirk as she laid a hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"Oh, he's after you Berry, but not in the way you're thinking."

A/N4: So just a bit of a filler/back story, things are going to start to swing towards the positive soon, I assure you. Thanks for waiting, reading, and reviewing. Much love to you all! I'm trying to update more often but it's been a crazy chaotic couple of months, so I 'm glad you're still with me. Wedding website's been updated, head to my page to check out the details… Or don't, I mean, that's cool too.

As always, it's a pleasure writing for you guys.


	11. Thwarted

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 11: Thwarted!

He should have known better.

He should have taken into account Santana's ability to be a gigantic pain in the ass _before_ he'd hired her.

But no, he was too busy trying to make Rachel jealous to consider what Satan was truly capable of.

She'd only been back for a month and already it felt like a year. Every day she was up his ass for something else. _"Puck, we need more money for hair and makeup" "Puck, we need first dibs on the gym in the winter for practice." "Puck, the girls need an on-site masseuse" "Puck, I need a bigger office."_

Her most recent request had been for an extension on the Cheerios budget so they could update their old 'look' and get brand new uniforms.

She'd slammed the door after he'd told her to fuck off.

No surprise there.

He turned his attention to the computer monitor in front of him and clicked into his email.

He had one new message. It was a mass email to the McKinley staff from Rachel.

An audible groan escaped his throat when he read the subject line.

Of course Berry would be in charge of school dances.

**Date: November 9, 2023 10:35 AM**

**To: Everyone**

**From: Rachel Berry**

**RE: Winter Ball**

**Greetings fellow co-educators!**

**As you all know, the Winter Ball is fast approaching! (3 weeks!)**

**Currently, we're in severe need of chaperones. Obviously I will be there to maintain order but further assistance is most definitely needed.**

**For those of you who have forgotten, you are all obligated to chaperone 3 events per calendar school year. Many of you haven't even chaperoned one event yet, so this is a great opportunity to get a jump start on your service as well as ensure a safe, fun environment for the kids.**

**Let me know if you're interested and I hope to see many of you there!**

**PS: Feel free to bring a date!**

**Rachel B. Berry**

**Guidance/Glee**

**William McKinley High School**

Puck made a face at the chaperone requirement reminder. He'd sort of thought he was exempt from chaperoning since he spent so much time with the kids anyways. He gave brief thought to fighting the requirement. However, he knew that would get him nowhere fast with her, so he figured he'd try something new. He'd play nice.

Date: November 9, 2023 10:41 AM

**To: Rachel Berry**

**From: Noah Puckerman**

**RE: Winter Ball**

**Rachel.**

**Count me in.**

**NP**

He was grinning like an idiot 15 minutes later when Quinn came knocking at his door with some medical forms for the football players to fill out.

"What's with this?" She questioned, gesturing to his face.

"I made an effort." He replied smoothly as he leaned back in his chair, clearly proud of himself.

She furrowed his eyebrows and dropped the papers on his desk.

"An effort at what exactly?" She questioned cautiously, not too sure if she liked the sound of this.

"I made an effort with Berry. I was nice." He clarified, looking quite pleased with himself.

This time, her eyebrows hit her hairline.

"Excuse me?" She managed, clearly confused and unconvinced.

He pulled up his sent email and turned his monitor to face Quinn. "See? I was totally nice. Polite too." He informed her, his tone smug.

The petite blonde scanned the email and her face split into a grin and she started laughing like a crazed woman.

"What?" He demanded, his tone defensive. There was nothing funny about his response.

She finally managed to calm herself and catch her breath. "I'm sorry, I'm just… I can't believe you thought that was 'nice' Puck." She squeaked out, her breath still coming in small gasps.

"It was nice."

"It was not. It wasn't even three lines. It was nothing. Literally, nothing." She told him, chuckling at his weak attempt at foraging a truce with the petite guidance counselor.

He glowered up at her. "Whatever. I made an effort. I didn't fight her or give her any shit. I think I was pretty awesome." He stated coolly.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Remember Puck, this isn't all about you." She chided as she dropped the forms on his desk and left.

He made a face at her retreating back before he propped his feet up on his desk and went to work on his plan to worm himself back into her good graces.

Three days later Rachel strode into her office half an hour early (as usual). She flicked on the light, hung up her jacket and turned to her desk. There was a beautiful purple orchid plant sitting in the middle of her desk with a note attached to it.

She approached cautiously, not entirely sure what to think or expect.

She scooped up the note and slid her nail underneath the small card flap and pulled out the note.

**Rachel~**

**Did you know that Orchids can grow almost anywhere and under almost any circumstance? They're resistant and hardy, but also beautiful and elegant.**

**Kind of like you.**

**Go to the dance with me?**

**Sincerely,**

**Me**

She smiled softly at the plant and the kind words. It wasn't often that men tried to woo her, let alone mystery men.

"Who gave you a plant?" A gravelly voice cut through her thoughts.

"That's none of your business Noah." She answered crisply, moving the orchid into the windowsill for direct sunlight.

"Wouldn't do that. Direct sunlight isn't great for orchids." His voice came, stopping her in her tracks.

She set the orchid down and turned to face him, mouth open, ready to respond. Except, he was gone.

Rachel turned her gaze back to the plant. _What does Noah know about plants?_

She spun on her heel and moved to sit down at her desk. She quickly pulled up google and did a search.

Sadly, within five minutes, she'd found multiple sources that did in fact confirm his words of advice. Direct sunlight was not recommended.

_When exactly did Noah become the expert on Orchid care? Would he have done this? Certainly seems like the sort of information a florist provides._

Her heart palpitated slightly at the thought before she quickly pushed it away. She couldn't keep doing this to herself. It wasn't healthy.

Puck dropped the small bouquet of daisies into the garbage and stormed to his office, more than a little pissed off at being one-upped by a fucking plant. She was gaga over the damn thing and it was completely ruining his plan.

_Guess I'll try again tomorrow._

The next morning she was greeted with a basket of whole grain blueberry muffins, an organic apple and a bottle of Silk. She grinned like an idiot and quickly stowed her things before dropping into her chair to enjoy the sweet note and sweet treats left by her new mystery man.

She was so distracted by the small feast in front of her that she didn't see Puck peek in her window. Nor did she notice the bag of bagels and soy cream cheese in his hand.

She also didn't hear them hit the trashcan.

"What the fuck crawled up your ass?" Santana questioned a few hours after he discovered he'd been duped again.

The leggy Latina was leaning against the door frame of his office.

"Not now Satan." He bit out, his tone edgy and frustrated.

As usual, she ignored him. "I hear you're trying to make nice with Berry." She stated conversationally.

He rolled his eyes and nodded. "I guess. Not exactly going well. She's got some dude doing, like, everything I was going to do, but doing it better." He grumbled, flopping backwards in his chair.

She stared at him and shook her head. "You're letting some dude show you up huh?"

"I'm not letting anyone show me up! It's happening without my permission! Hey, you don't think it's that Greg guy, do you?" He questioned, turning his gaze to Santana.

She shook her head. "That ended awhile ago. What exactly did you do? Or I guess, what were you going to do?"

"Yesterday I was gonna give her flowers. The guy bought her an orchid plant and she like, fucking swooned. Today, I got up early and went to that organic place and got those bagels I've seen her eat and the soy cream cheese. By the time I got here, she was already chowing down on muffins and soy milk. It's like the dude is me, but he's better at being me than me!"

"OK I was with you right til the end. Look, Berry likes romance, she likes flowers and sweet gestures. If someone else is moving in, move faster. Don't wait til tomorrow, do it tonight." Santana suggested before she spun on her heel and headed towards her office.

Despite his dislike of Santana, she had a point. So instead of eating lunch at school, he drove to the super market. He picked up a package of strawberries and a can of chocolate sauce.

Once he got back to school, he snagged a Styrofoam plate from the lounge and locked himself in his office and set about making chocolate covered strawberries.

He waited until he saw the last of the teacher's cars pull out before sneaking into Berry's office (with the help of the ever hesitant Milos) and left them on her desk, front and center, with a note, for her, from him.

**Berry-**

**I'm not good at this. I suck at it, in fact.**

**But I'm sorry. I like you and I'm sorry.**

**Let me make it up to you. **

**Dance with me?**

**NP**

He left the note, feeling no twinges of regret. This was going to work. It had to.

The next morning he strode confidently through the halls of McKinley, knowing he'd beaten 'better him' at his own game.

That is, until he reached Berry's office. She was at her desk, reading a card. On the desk were chocolate covered strawberries. But they weren't the ones he made.

These were the kind that Godiva place in the mall sells.

He seethed at the idea of this…. This fucker, sneaking in and fucking ruining every step he took.

"Puck, you look like you're about to explode."

He slid his gaze to the small blonde now at his side.

He jerked his head towards Berry's office.

"Ohh. I love chocolate covered strawberries! Must be from her mystery guy. Pretty romantic huh!" Quinn cooed excitedly.

He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and glared at her.

"What? It's nice! Secret admirers are fun! Someone likes her, I know that's hard to believe, but someone does. She deserves that." Quinn told him before stepping into Rachel's office.

Three times. Three times this asshat had made a fool out of him.

No more.

There would be no gifts tonight.

There would, however, be a stakeout.

"Dude, this is not a good idea." Mike complained from the back seat of Matt's black Toyota.

"Shut it Chang."

"It's midnight. I'm exhausted. I wanna go to sleep. My body can't take this kind of abuse." The Asian man complained.

"Abuse? You've been lying in the back seat eating Cheetos and slurping Diet Pepsi from a can. How exactly are you being abused?" Puck exclaimed, his night vision goggles trained on the school entrance.

Three hours later, Puck was still awake. Mike was out cold, orange cheese smeared on his cheek. Matt was dozing, his i-Pod blaring in his ears.

Puck pulled the goggles down from his face and took a sip from his mug of coffee and stuffed a donut in his mouth.

He shook his head slightly to wake himself up and turned back to the school, shifting the goggles into place.

What he saw next resulted in the donut dropping from his mouth.

"No. Fucking. Way."

A/N 4: So I'm sure you guys probably know who it is. But give me a guess anyways.

A/N 5: Only about two more chapters of "resistance" before we see some solid Puckleberry love.

Personal update: Honeymoon has been decided. Montego Bay in Jamaica. It wasn't my first choice but after some research and talking, I'm pretty excited. Less than nine months til the big day!


	12. Sometimes Your Eyes Play Tricks On You

A/N 1: Puckleberry Futurefic. Everything in the series happened. This is roughly 9 years after graduation, so essentially, everyone's about 27.

A/N 2: Expect some hostility between the two for a bit. They aren't each other's biggest fans, for good reason.

A/N 3: Not all the old glee kids will be in this. A few but not all.

Guidance

Chapter 12: Sometimes Your Eyes Play Tricks On You

Puck swung his car into a parking spot exactly 40 minutes before the start of school. He quickly scanned the parking lot, his eyes landing on Quinn's car and then Santana's. Rachel's was a bit further down the row.

It was time for the sabotaging to end. Matt had confessed to spilling his ideas to Quinn on their dates and the girls were using it against him. And for that, they would most definitely pay.

He stormed the halls of McKinley, his first stop was Santana's office. He shoved the door open, startling the feisty Latina.

"What the fuck Puck! I could have burned myself!" She screeched, moving her latte away from her black pantsuit.

"You. You did it. You and blondie are fucking ruining my life. Get up. You and the Queen of the Innocent are going to tell Rachel the truth." He demanded, his arms crossed in front of him, his tone laced with anger.

"Whatever Puck. You have no idea what the hell you're talking about." Santana muttered, turning back to her computer.

He grabbed hold of the back of her chair and yanked it backwards. He turned the chair so he was face to face with his tormentor.

"YOU DID IT. I saw you do it. Last night. I stayed here all night. GET UP. You are telling her now." He hissed, barely containing his frustration.

She got to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. "Consider it payback Puckerman. I'll gladly tell her. I'll tell her I did it for her own good. I'll tell her I did it because I wanted her to see she's worth the very best." Santana spat before stalking out of her office, Puck hot on her heels.

Not even two minutes later they were stepping into the small nurse's office. Quinn took one look at Santana's face and sighed heavily.

"I knew we shouldn't have done it. It wasn't right to play with her emotions like that." Quinn muttered as she closed the notebook she was writing in before standing up.

"C'mon ladies. The time for justice is upon us." He instructed, grabbing each of them by an elbow and steering them towards Rachel's office.

Rachel looked up from her decadent treat when she heard the disturbance at the door.

"Get your gross gym hands off me Puck!" Santana hissed, attempting to wrench her arm from his grasp.

He rolled his eyes and shoved the girls through the door.

"Tell her." He demanded, his eyes trained on Rachel's.

"Tell me what?" Rachel questioned, her eyes shifting between the three people standing in front of her.

And just like that, the two women began speaking at once.

"Listen, it was for your own good."

"We didn't mean to hurt you."

"I knew he was going to try something, we just didn't want you to get hurt."

"It was done out of concern for you. We shouldn't have meddled."

"He's an asshat douchetard!"

"SILENCE!" Rachel exclaimed, managing to raise her voice above the two former cheerleaders.

Both girls slammed their mouths shut as Rachel crossed from behind her desk and moved to stand in front of them.

She gazed at the two women critically. Quinn looked quite distraught and thoroughly apologetic. Santana, however, wore no look of remorse, at all. Instead, she seemed almost… Almost proud of herself?

Finally, her eyes came to rest on the man behind the two women. The man she hadn't had direct contact with in over a month.

"Noah. Would you kindly explain what these two are talking about and why are you so upset? Since they can't seem to do it without sounding like screeching baboons." She requested, fixing the two women with a steely gaze.

He cleared his throat and leveled his gaze to hers.

"These shifty little fuckers are the ones that have been leaving you gifts every morning. The reason I'm pissed is because I've been trying to leave you gifts and they keep fucking one-upping me. So I stayed here last night and staked the place out and imagine my surprise when I saw Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Biotch sneaking into the school late last night." He explained, clearly angry about his thwarted efforts.

Rachel turned her gaze back to the guilty parties.

"Really? Seriously? You two should have known better. You know how much I've enjoyed those little gifts this week. You led me on. You made me think someone cared for me, wanted me. And instead, it was you two. You humiliated me in front of my peers, my students… I feel like we're back in high school and you're drawing deplorable pictures of me on the walls of the girls bathroom. I'm sorry, but I have no interest in continuing this conversation with you two." She finished, holding her head high even as her voice waivered slightly.

The girls turned, their faces now both identical looks of shame and sadness. Puck released them and they both quietly exited, neither saying a word to Rachel or each other.

Rachel had turned to face her window and didn't realize he was still standing in the room.

"I care." He said gruffly, visibly startling her.

She turned. "Oh. Noah. You scared me. I didn't realize you were still here." She whispered, quickly swiping at the corners of her eyes.

"I meant it Berry. I care. I was actually trying to do nice things but they ruined it. I just… I just thought you should know that I care." He told her, turning a bright shade of red as he expressed himself to the petite brunette.

"That's sweet Noah. I know we've not been on the best of terms as of late, but this recent situation has proven to show what a good friend you truly are, I couldn't be more grateful." She told him, laying a hand on his muscular forearm.

He stared down at her hand before returning his gaze to her face.

Silently, he picked up her hand and pulled her forward, just close enough to smell him, actually.

"Berry. Let me make this as clear as fucking possible. This… This was not a friendly gesture. This was not me defending your honor. This was me trying to make you aware of my feelings and being fucking railroaded at every turn by goddamn Thelma and Louise." He informed her, his face very close to hers.

She stared up at him, her eyes wide with shock and confusion.

"You… You have feelings for me! You HATE me, Noah. You have for a long time." She pointed out.

"I didn't… I don't… I was a dumb kid who did a really shitty thing that I should probably still be apologizing for. But I don't hate you. Fuck, Rachel. I LIKE you. And I was trying to show you that. I like you. I've liked you since the day I came back. You've been nice, you've mellowed, you were like, Rachel 3.0 only with an even hotter body, if that's possible… So I just… I just figured I owed it to you and myself to fucking fess up. So there, I did." He huffed, obviously frustrated.

"Oh. I wasn't expecting that." She murmured, averting her eyes from his, her cheeks flushed from his blatant admission.

"I figured. But I wanted you to know. And I wanted to maybe ask if you would go to the dance with me." He stated, not bothering to phrase his sentence as a question.

"Well, it's probably inappropriate to bring other teachers as dates." She mused with a frown.

His eyebrows rose as she pinched her mouth together in obvious concentration.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Those little fuckers aren't going to care if you come with me!" He exclaimed.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Noah. They will. They will have a field day with it if we did. We aren't doing that." She told him firmly.

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "I give up Berry! What am I supposed to do then?" He questioned, his voice raising a bit.

"You're supposed to ask me to dance and take me out for a drink afterwards." She suggested, a small smile spreading across her face.

Puck stared at her, slack jawed. "What?" He finally fumbled out, not at all expecting what she'd just proposed.

"A dance and a drink. Work for you?" She asked, her face neutral but judging by her tone, she was very much amused.

He quickly gathered himself together and nodded his agreement. "Yeah…. Yeah, that's…That's cool. OK. Great. I'll see you then. Or sooner. Probably sooner. Dance is awhile away. Like three weeks…. Yeah, Ok, I've gotta get going." He finally managed to cut off his rambling before made himself sound like an even bigger asshole than he already was.

She watched with an amused smirk as he backed out the door and scurried down the hall.

Not thirty seconds later, the two cheerleaders burst through the door.

"Did it work?" Santana demanded, slamming her door shut.

Rachel nodded, a satisfied smile firmly in place.

Quinn squealed with excitement. "And he had no idea you were in on it?" She questioned, grasping onto both Rachel and Santana's arms.

"Not one clue." Rachel confirmed, her eyes dancing with amusement.

Santana crowed her approval. "That's so awesome! Berry, I am so sorry I ever doubted those acting abilities you were always blabbering about. It's official, we are not worthy!" Santana announced, her and Quinn bowing to their 'master' in jest.

"Thank you, thank you… I'll remember you all when I give my acceptance speech at the next Oscars ceremony where I'll be honored with a statue for my striking portrayal as myself in my own startling accurate biography." She primly declared.

All three girls shared identical solemn looks that lasted all of three seconds before they collapsed into a fit of giggles.

A/N: Hope that was OK. I wanted to keep it a little shorter so the next chapter could just be the dance the drinks. Let me know what you think!


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